Talking Stick - September/October 2008 - (Page 38)

SaFe HaRboR Mental HealtH: wHat inFoRMation Can be SHaRed? by Meredith Whipple I n the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, a common reaction on many campuses was “Could this happen to us?” Since then, higher education institutions have been scrutinizing their emergency preparedness plans. After subsequent shootings at Delaware State University in Dover, Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge, and Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, college and university officials have begun to see campus violence as not only a security concern but also a mental health issue. Reassessing procedures for security now goes hand-in-hand with reassessing procedures for mental health crises, as higher education professionals find themselves faced with a campus environment that has been altered by an air of threat. The Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC), a non-profit organization that assists Midwestern states in advancing higher education through interstate cooperation and resource sharing, conducted a study in March 2008 of 331 two- and fouryear campuses. The study, “The Ripple Effect of Virginia Tech: Assessing the Nationwide Impact on Campus Safety and Security Policy and Practice,” finds that 87 percent of these institutions reviewed their safety policies and procedures following the Virginia Tech shootings, and nearly nine in ten made actual changes, such as revamping the emergency notification and broadcast alert system or re-defining policies about securing campus facilities. Colleges and universities are looking at privacy laws and mental health practices with a new perspective, realizing that the cost of not being prepared may be greater than once thought. A New Mental Health Atmosphere The increasing awareness of mental health issues has led to students becoming more willing to discuss them. At Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1,300 students were screened for depression and anxiety in one night at dining halls around campus. Coordinated by peer student groups, this annual event added a new component this year by allowing students to speak briefly with a mental health staff member after their screening. The screenings identified upwards of 200 students who met the criteria for these disorders, leading to more than 40 new referrals to mental health services. But the screening did more than just that: It also prompted an open conversation among students about mental health. As efforts are being made to reduce the stigma of mental illness, the face of mental health care is changing on campuses worldwide. “In the last ten years, we’ve doubled the number of clients we see and doubled the number of visits,” says Dr. Greg Eells, associate director of counseling and psychological services at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. “It seems to be a national trend.” Ross Szabo, director of Youth Outreach for the National Mental Health Awareness Campaign and author of Behind Happy Faces: Taking Charge of Your Mental Health – A Guide for Young Adults, agrees that higher education professionals are dealing with a different mental health atmosphere than they have in the past. “The stigma is going down. The best thing college professionals can do is to proactively educate on mental health issues without isolating mental health illness.” Szabo says that safety concerns have caused adjustments as well: “Since recent school shootings, there’s been a lot more communication on campuses, which is needed in an isolated community.” Connecting the Dots When ensuring student safety, building lines of communication is key for college and university administrators. Immediately following the Virginia Tech shootings, Governor Tim Kaine appointed a panel to review the case of gunman Seung-Hui Cho and the events leading up to the tragedy. The Virginia Tech Review Panel reported that school officials “explained their failures to communicate with one another or Cho’s parents by noting their belief that such communications were prohibited by the federal laws governing the privacy of health and education records.” The central problem, as the panel noted, was that although many departments and individuals were aware of warning signs in Cho, “no one knew all the information, and no one connected the dots.” Privacy laws related to health and education records are the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), two policies that are subject to misconceptions in the world of higher education. FERPA protects the privacy of students’ educational records from parents but does allow the sharing of personal observation and the releasing of information to “appropriate” school officials, defined at the discretion of the school. HIPAA, a policy not exclusive to colleges and universities, establishes privacy standards regarding the electronic exchange of health information. The MHEC study found that more than half of the institutions 3 Talking Stick

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Talking Stick - September/October 2008

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