Mental health experts know that adjusting to college life can be tough for some first-year students. They’re also aware that many of those same students don’t ask for help.
The University of Iowa is making it easier for students to reach out by providing counseling services in the places where they spend most of their time.
Patrick Galligan is one of three embedded therapists on the UI campus this year. His office is on the second floor of Stanley Hall, an eastside residence hall where he provides counseling services to anyone affiliated with one of the UI’s residence halls and apartments, including students, resident assistants, and professional staff.
Since classes began Aug. 22, he’s been busy.
“I’ve been seeing students from all over campus,” says Galligan, who jumped at a chance to work in a unique setting with many first-year college students. “I thought this was a place where I could make a difference because the position is set up to reach students closer to where they are.”
The other two embedded therapists are located in the College of Dentistry and the Department of Athletics. This is the fifth year a University Counseling Service (UCS) therapist has been on site at the dental college; the other two locations are hosting therapists for the first time this semester.
“Students who are early in their college experience face a number of unique barriers and hurdles in their transition that are incredibly difficult to overcome,” Galligan says. “My job is to let them know this service is available, not only at the University Counseling Service, but right here, literally at home for some of our students.”
Rachel Zuckerman, president of UI Student Government, first proposed the idea of embedding a counselor in the residence halls last year. As a resident assistant in Slater and Petersen halls, Zuckerman says she felt the burden of trying to counsel troubled students who often came to her for help. After all, she was only a student herself.
“Yes, RAs help students get through hard times, but they shouldn’t be the ones providing mental health counseling,” Zuckerman says.
Barry Schreier, director of UCS, says the idea behind the “embedded model” is to expand mental health services to students by partnering with other campus units that have identified a need and are able to fund a therapist at their location.
“We are extending the footprint of the counseling center to those areas, but these are not satellite offices,” Schreier says. “These therapists are serving the populations where they’ve been assigned.”
Other Big Ten universities that have embedded counselors are Northwestern, the Ohio State University, and the University of Michigan.
At the UI, the main UCS is in Westlawn, a west campus location that many first-year students have said is too far away from their residence halls, says Schreier.
Galligan’s office in Stanley Hall is located on the east side of campus, near a number of other residence halls where first-year students typically live.
“My biggest fear for Patrick is he will quickly get overrun,” Schreier says. “If that’s the case, there will be opportunity for expansion.”
Schreier says he likes the embedded model because it ensures continuity of care, or what he calls “one student, one service.”
“In other words, if a student sees Patrick at the residence halls and then comes over to the main counseling service office and sees someone there, that counselor can access the student’s records,” he says. “The student doesn’t have to start all over.”
In addition to holding individual counseling sessions, embedded therapists facilitate group counseling sessions similar to those offered at the main UCS, as well as sessions tailored to their population. For example, Galligan says he soon will begin facilitating a group focused on helping students build healthy relationships.
Galligan also will host skills groups to help students with issues such as managing stress, regulating emotions, and dealing with academic demands. Plus, he will serve as a consultant to RAs and hall coordinators who need support managing student situations.
Zuckerman says having a therapist at a residence hall helps normalize mental health and mental illness for students.
“In our residence halls, we have workout facilities, tutoring services, dining halls, all kinds of things we consider part of normal life,” she says. “When you have a mental health counselor as part of that, you emphasize that mental health is something we also deal with every day.”