Students Who Self-Disclose Mental Health Issues 1. Background Layout of the Presentation Rachel Hall Senior Assistant Director Pre-major Advising Center Radford University 2. Lit Review 3. Method 4. Results 5. Conclusions 6. Questions/Discussions Nobody cares about me MY MOM S IN JAIL I can t go back home. I can t pay for school My Dad is a prisoner of war I FEEL ISOLATED I was raped My best friend committed suicide" MESS into Message TEST into Testimony PASSION into Profession Are you expected to counsel a student in crisis? Advising versus Counseling NO! Academic Advisor Should be able to recognize mental distress and know the appropriate referrals. Psychotherapist Trained and licensed to help people deal with issues that involve emotional and mental health e.g., professional counselor, psychologist and clinical social worker 1
According to the Center for Collegiate Mental Health 2016 Annual Report 61% of students reported issues with anxiety 49% of students reported issues with depression 9% of students reported having thoughts of suicide * Data was contributed to this report by 139 college and university counseling centers describing 150,483 individual college students and over 1,034,510 appointments. What about students with invisible disabilities? How Mental Health Effects Retention and Attrition Disabilities such as Attention Deficit Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder are comorbid with other psychiatric disorders. General Student Population 45% Withdrawal Rate Students with Mental Illness 86% Withdrawal Rate Slazer, M. (2012). A Comparative Study of Campus Experiences of College Students with Mental Illness versus a General College Sample. Journal of American College Health, 60(01), 1-6. Research Questions What about my school? RQ 1. How often do advisors experience mental health disclosures during advising appointments? RQ 2. Are academic advisors comfortable dealing with student mental health disclosures? RQ 3. Have the academic advisors had training related to mental health? RQ 4. Are academic advisors familiar with the mental health resources available to Radford University students? 2
Method Approximately 410 faculty and professional advisors were identified by Institutional Research Has a student ever self-disclosed a mental health issue to you during an advising appointment? Anyone who was identified as an academic advisor at RU, was sent a recruitment email with a link that contained an online letter of informed consent and a Qualtrics survey Of the 410 identified advisors, 130 participated in the survey RQ 1. How often do advisors experience mental health disclosures during advising appointments? Over 75% of participants have experienced five or more mental health disclosures during advising appointments. RQ 2. Are academic advisors comfortable dealing with student mental health disclosures? 3
Have you participated in any training related to mental health? RQ 3. Have the academic advisors had training related to mental health? Did your advising training include how to handle mental health disclosures? Comfortable knowing what to do Has had mental health training 37% indicated they had participated in training related to mental health. 29% indicated the were comfortable knowing what to do. RQ 4. Are academic advisors familiar with the mental health resources available to Radford University students? 4
Conclusions Advising Training Components Most advisors are experiencing student mental health disclosures Most advisors are not comfortable dealing with mental health disclosures Most advisors have not had training related to mental health Most advisors are not aware of the mental health resources available to Radford University students Conceptual Informational Relational Personal Technological Questions & Discussion References Bishop, K. (2016, October). The Relationship Between Retention and College Counseling for High Risk Students. Journal of College Counseling, 19(3), 205-217. Center for Collegiate Mental Health. (2017, January). 2016 Annual Report (Publication No. STA17-74), 1-11. Harper, R. & Peterson, M. 2005. Mental health issues and college students. NACADA Clearinghouse of Academic Advising Resources. Retrieved from http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/resources/clearinghouse/view- Articles/Mental-health-issues-in-advising.aspx McClellan, J.L. (2007). Content Components for Advisor Training: Revisited. Retrieved from NACADA Clearinghouse of Academic Advising Resources Web site: http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/resources/clearinghouse/view-articles/advisor-training-components.aspx Slazer, M. (2012). A Comparative Study of Campus Experiences of College Students with Mental Illness versus a General College Sample. Journal of American College Health, 60(01), 1-6. 5