Mental Health in Higher Education

3 units

Within the first decade of the 21st century, enrollment at American colleges and universities increased a whopping 24%, from 16.6 million in 2002 to 20.6 million in 2012. Just as college enrollments have dramatically increased, so too have the proportion of students suffering from mental illness. Some have deemed that we are in the midst of a college student mental health crisis. From all directions, data are emerging, and they depict a sobering scene. How can the field of higher education best respond to this crisis? Many institutions have increased the number of mental health counselors available in the student health center and made the accommodations offered by disability resource centers more robust. Still, the same survey from the National Alliance on Mental Illness found that only half of students with mental health diagnoses disclose their conditions to their colleges. This course will delve into the extant literature on the nature of mental health problems facing students today. We will discuss how professionals in the field can best respond to address such problems as they arise and, to the extent possible, prevent them in the first place.