USU Counseling and Psychological Services hires new counselors for increased demand
In an effort to reduce waiting times, Utah State University is expanding mental health resources as the fall semester begins.
In a press release on Aug. 23, USU announced Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) had hired two psychologists, a licensed marriage and family therapist and three full-time psychology interns.
“Utah State believes mental health and wellness is important to academic success,” USU President Noelle Cockett said in the press release. “We know some Aggies struggle, and we look to our mental health services and our caring community to help those in distress.”
The new hires came in part due to an increase in student fees approved last year. While USU has increased CAPS fees in the past, CAPS has remained understaffed, and students face long waitlist times. However, according to USU Vice President for Student Affairs James Morales, last year’s fees enabled the university to fill the needed positions.
According to Morales, one of the most important aspects to the increased fees was allowing the University to vie for competitive graduate students to fill internship positions. Morales said not being able to hire on interns last year contributed significantly to the longer waitlist.
“In recent years we’ve been struggling to fulfill those internship positions because our pay for the year for the internship was lower than most schools across the country,” Morales said. “In fact, last year we didn’t get any, and that created a really difficult situation for us.”
Morales said students realized the past fee “was woefully insufficient to provide resources to hire the needed therapists and so forth, so they came back last year and said, ‘Let’s increase that.’”
Morales said response to the new hires has been overwhelmingly positive so far. According to Morales, while CAPS is dealing with a high-volume workload, there is no current waitlist. Morales said the new employees’ “sleeves are rolled up, and they are going 100percent.”
However, Morales did note there are certain peak times during a semester when CAPS experiences a higher workload volume. Along with the different peak times throughout the semester, there is a growing demand for mental health services. This growing demand is not limited to Utah, according to Morales.
“Everyone is dealing with this. We’re not alone. Utah is not unique,” Morales said. However, Morales also said there may be other positive changes regarding mental health nationwide.
“The culture has changed, too, not only at Utah State but across the country,” Morales said. “It’s changed from this hidden problem to one of ‘no, it’s no different than if I had a broken leg or if I had pneumonia.’ Nobody would ever criticize us if we went to the doctor for one of those reasons, right?”
USU and CAPS are now emphasizing a comprehensive approach to resilience and mental wellness. According to the press release, USU is working on developing a program to improve mental well-being.
While most of the program is still under development, USU has already been working on improving student wellness through apps such as SafeUT, a mental health and safety app done in partnership with the University of Utah. According to Morales, these plans and measures already taken by USU to improve access to mental health resources is part of a multipronged approach.
“Some people say, ‘Well, wow. That’s a little much isn’t it? All these things you’re doing?’ Well, we don’t think so. We’re doing our best,” Morales said. “I want you to know that this has already resulted in helping save peoples’ lives.”
While USU has responded as much as it can right now, Morales said the university will have to take stock again at the end of this year to see where improvements can be made.
’”There is a limit to what we can do because we are a university first and foremost, not a psychiatric or psychological clinic,” Morales said. “But we care about our students, and we want to do what we can within the limits of those resources that we do have.
— jshwilki@gmail.com