Mai-Ann Nguyen
October 3, 2022 | UT Austin
The University of Texas at Austin’s Counseling and Mental Health Center (CMHC) hosted a week of events starting Sept. 12 to raise awareness about suicide prevention by exploring topics such as men’s mental health and student anxiety.
There has been a steady rise in turnout in recent years as more students seek out mental health services on campus, according to Justin Carter, UT’s Suicide Prevention Coordinator. But the increased demand appears to be putting a strain on the university’s resources.
One third-year student at UT, who asked to remain unnamed for privacy reasons, said they tried calling the university’s crisis hotline out of concern for a friend’s wellbeing last fall, but were placed on hold for nearly an hour before reaching a live person. They also recently tried to schedule an appointment with counseling services, but the nearest availability was two months out.
“I was like, you know what? I’ll just deal with my own stuff, and not have to wait two months to talk about what I’m dealing with right now,” the student said.
The third-year student isn’t the only one who has run into issues with some of CMHC’s services. In addition to reports of long wait times, another student said she never received the follow-up resources she was promised.
Nandini Parikh, a junior, said she reached out to CMHC during her freshman year after struggling with some personal issues.
“I had to make sure that my grades stayed up, so I was just trying to find any sort of professional help, honestly,” Parikh said.
After her session, the counseling service told her they would send her more resources regarding eating and sleeping habits, but Parikh said she never received anything. Her appointment at the time was online over Zoom due to COVID-19, and she noted that she's unsure if that may have caused the issue.
With over 50,000 students on campus, the number of counselors just can't keep up, Carter, the suicide prevention coordinator, said. So unfortunately, they face periods when the staff are fully booked, he noted.
"It's nice when we do have funding or get new funding. We get to hire more counselors, which allows that space to diminish, where folks are getting the ressources and the help that they need," Carter said.
In an emailed response, Laura Kinch, the assistant director of communications for CMHC, reported that in the 2020-2021 academic year, over 5,000 individual students used their services and accounted for nearly 30,000 total sessions, including online appointments and calls to the crisis hotline.
In June, the UT System Board of Regents approved $16.5 million to fund five initiatives focused on student mental health: telehealth services, a mental health crisis line, faculty training, web-based alcohol education and sexual assault prevention, and the "Thrive at UT" app, which provides students with suggestions for healthy habits and mindful practices.
Data showing an increase in student mental health issues over the past decade prompted the board to allocate more money to UT's services, said UT System Chancellor James Milliken, according to the press release. From 2001 to 2021, the number of UT students that received professional mental health services jumped from 20 to 30 percent, with the pandemic exacerbating the recent upward trend.
But tracking issues like depression and anxiety amongst students is difficult, especially when self-reported, and collecting data on suicide is even more complicated. Universities aren't legally required to track suicides, so it can be difficult to gauge how severe the situation is at any particular school. A report from the Associated Press listed UT Austin as one of only ten Texas colleges to consistently keep track of that data, while UT San Antonio and UT Arlington reportedly tracked inconsistently or had limited data available.
Carter said schools within the UT system all track suicide rates at varying degrees, if at all, because each college has different needs. UT Austin uses its suicide rates to figure out what groups demographically need support, where funding needs to go, and to pinpoint preventative efforts, he said. But preventative results are not immediate, and so the efficacy rate is harder to track.
"I think what we're trying to do is change the culture around mental health, and changing culture takes a lot [of time]," Carter said.
Though there hasn't yet been a significant reduction in student depression or suicide since he started his position in 2019, he remains optimistic. The fact that events for UT's suicide prevention week have seen larger turnouts each year, and that counseling services are swamped with requests shows that increasingly more students are reaching out for help instead of suffering alone, Carter said.
Despite the various obstacles, the student who called the crisis line remains grateful that the university offers services at all.
"I think the university should have more investments into the CMHC and all of these resources since they really do help students," they said. "I wish they could help more students at a faster pace."