By The Collegiate Staff
During the winter semester at Grand Rapids Community College, our student publication, The Collegiate, chose to focus on mental health as the theme for our end of semester magazine. We did not intend to form any sort of opinion on the school’s handling of the topic until we delved deeper in and noticed important issues that need to be addressed. While we recognize that a college can only do so much, GRCC has fallen below even the baseline recommendations by healthcare professionals when it comes to how many counselors they employ and tactics in place to deal with students in crisis. It is our opinion that GRCC needs to devote more resources to prioritize mental health and counseling services on campus.
The Counseling and Career Development Center is GRCC’s primary resource for those in need of short-term therapy and off-campus referrals. One of the first issues to note with this office is the title. It’s not clear to students whether this is a mental health counseling office or some kind of academic counseling office. Perhaps a name like the “Student Support Services Center” or the “Counseling and Wellness Center” would clear up any confusion.
Regardless of the verbose title, the center offers students the ability to schedule appointments or if they find themselves in a crisis situation, they may be able to get a same-day consultation. Currently, this office employs only two counselors. The International Accreditation of Counseling Services recommends that a school counseling office have a ratio of 1,000- 1,500 students per counselor, meaning we would need to employ five to six more counselors to meet that recommendation as our ratio is currently 5, 544 to 1.
This lack of counselors at GRCC also comes at a time where there is growing demand for mental health services. Data received from GRCC’s Counseling Center shows that from the 2020-2021 academic year to the 2021-2022 academic year, appointments went up by 210 percent. That increase in appointments did not result in any new counselors hired and instead the overwhelming workload was placed on the two already existing counselors. Those working in mental health already have incredibly stressful jobs and being understaffed can only exacerbate that stress. For this reason, GRCC needs to hire more counselors to at least meet the standards set by the IACS.
Additionally, we believe that teachers and staff should be better trained to deal with students facing mental health challenges. Currently, staff are encouraged to flag students who appear to need additional help. This is referred to as the GRCC Cares network. We believe that instead of flagging students who seem to need help, professors should be encouraged to build relationships with and talk to their students or be trained in some way to deal with the situation.
Perhaps all teachers could receive some basic social work training to learn early intervention methods or ways to recognize crisis and stress. While the GRCC Cares network seems to mean well, that alone may lead to a culture at GRCC where students don’t feel comfortable reaching out for help, especially if the professors do not initiate that conversation.
When students are dealing with a mental health crisis, such as a death in the family, teachers should work with students to allow extensions on classwork without requiring prying information such as an obituary. Some students have had negative experiences reaching out to teachers about family emergencies where professors don’t respond. There should be some baseline protocol for when these already devastating events take place so that an instructor isn’t exacerbating the situation.
It can also be incredibly difficult to muster up the mental energy to contact your teachers when something traumatic has happened. A solution to this could be supplying an online form that goes to all of a student’s teachers that informs them of the situation. This way a student is able to communicate with a professor without having to construct an email while they’re going through something really difficult.
Another issue that we’ve come across in our reporting is that some students who initially went to GRCC during the pandemic, feel that there should be more options for completing their education online. The switch from online schooling to mostly in-person has been jarring and uncomfortable for many students who have anxieties about returning to school while COVID continues to be a concern. While there are many online classes available, some courses simply aren’t available and others are run poorly compared to their in-person counterparts.
Online courses will sometimes have assignments and videos that are nearly 10 years old and no Zoom or other face-to-face supplementation. These things can greatly diminish the learning potential of a particular course.
There is also a 14-day policy at GRCC which allows instructors to kick students out of their class if they’ve been absent for 14 calendar days. The policy states, “Faculty members are encouraged to create an attendance policy that takes into consideration anticipated (such as College-related activities, personal issues, etc.) and unanticipated (such as trauma, military duty, court appearances, etc.) absences.” We believe that it shouldn’t be up to a specific instructor to decide whether or not a death in the family or mental health crisis should get a student removed from a class.
The Collegiate understands that addressing these issues can be challenging, but we firmly believe that mental health is an area that warrants that extra time and resources. With mounting stress and a lack of adequate support systems, many students are forced to drop out of school, with mental health issues being a leading cause. In order to safeguard the wellbeing of students and ensure a brighter future for Grand Rapids and beyond, it is imperative that GRCC prioritizes mental health.
If you or a loved one are in need of immediate mental health care, refer to these resources:
- National Mental Health Hotline: 988 Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Programs: Call (616) 451-2744.
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA): 1-800-662-HELP (4357)
- Crisis Text Line: Text HELLO to 741741.
- Network 180, Kent County Mental Health & Substance Abuse Services: Call (616) 336-3909.
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Call 1-800-273-TALK
