UVa professor’s study says community college students lack mental health services

A study led by a University of Virginia law school professor indicates that Virginia community college students lack access to important mental health services.

Richard Bonnie, chairman of the Virginia College Mental Health Study, worked alongside higher education officials from across the state to examine mental health programs in higher education institutions following the 2006 shootings at Virginia Tech. He presented the study and a list of recommendations from the study’s task forces in November to the Virginia General Assembly’s Joint Commission on Healthcare, which launched the study in September 2009 in response to the shootings and resulting legislation.

The study’s first formal recommendation is that the state create a plan, “as resources permit,” to assure that every community college has the means to provide mental health screening and referral services to students in need.

“Many of us were surprised to find that there are, formally speaking, no counseling centers in the community colleges,” Bonnie said. Instead of trained mental health care professionals, community colleges employ counselors who can refer students in need to appropriate community service boards or law enforcement agencies. These resources are often “strapped for resources” themselves, Bonnie noted.

Piedmont Virginia Community College has counselors on staff to talk to students about “a variety of needs and issues,” spokeswoman Anita Showers said.

“Students can request assistance on their own through the Admissions and Advising Center, or they may be referred to the center by faculty or staff. If needed, PVCC may refer students to resources in the community,” she said, adding that PVCC has an existing relationship with Region Ten Community Services Board.

Jeffrey Kraus, a spokesperson for the Virginia Community College System, agreed that community colleges lack adequate staffing and funding necessary to provide more extensive mental health care services to students.

“We applaud the report’s findings that more resources are needed for our colleges to provide more on-campus resources for this issue,” Kraus said. “This is simply a reality of the staffing and resources that our community colleges have access to.”

Kraus noted, however, that there are major differences between four-year institutions and community colleges that should not be overlooked.

“We don’t have dorms. People don’t live on our campuses. The counseling resources we have differ from those offered at the universities because the environments are very different,” he said.

John Monahan, a UVa law professor and psychologist, noted that community college students are more likely to be uninsured or underinsured than their four-year counterparts.

In 2008, the General Assembly approved legislation that permitted public colleges and universities to seek applicants’ mental health records and notify parents of students receiving certain mental health services. It also encouraged the establishment of threat assessment teams to review students’ health and criminal histories for assessment, and if necessary, intervention.

“The central aim of the College Mental Health Study is to take stock, four years later, of access to mental health services by college students and the effectiveness of the legal framework for preventing and responding to mental health crises that was created by the 2008 legislation,” Bonnie said in his Nov. 22 testimony.

“I hope that initial steps can be taken in the session of the General Assembly to identify this as a priority for the Virginia Community College System, and over time ensure that they have adequate resources [to implement an expansion of services],” he said in a phone interview. He added that “the last thing” he wants is an unfunded mandate that could further stress community colleges.

Kraus said that he is grateful that the study provided new food for thought, and said that it may encourage further discussion of health care needs on community college campuses.

“We stand ready to work with our partners in the legislative arena to move this priority forward,” he said.