Category: For Referring Professionals

Navigating mental health issues while away from home can be difficult for any college student, but especially for those with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. Compared with other students, students with schizophrenia are 70% more likely to become college drop-outs. Schizophrenia disrupts the ability to differentiate between reality and psychotic episodes, potentially leading to paranoia and, consequently, anxiety in social settings such as school. But a schizophrenia diagnosis does not automatically end a college career. And for students who take a leave of absence due to psychotic episodes, returning to college can be beneficial for recovery.

Whether a student with schizophrenia is just starting college or returning, counselors who establish relationships with them, working to set goals and to connect them with campus groups, help to establish a foundation for success in college and in building friendships.

College Offers Structure

Routines keep patients on track with recovery. Schizophrenia is marked by disorganized thinking ― a class schedule can offer stability during an otherwise chaotic day.

Combined with regular counseling appointments, college students with schizophrenia can develop coping skills and re-introduce themselves into social situations. Family can also support students during this time and act as models for successful social interactions. In other words, familial relationships are models for how students will interact with their peers, and if families can showcase stable interactions, this will allow students to develop and foster relationships as their daily routines grow and shift.

Students Develop Their Identities in College

College is an important developmental time in a student’s life. Seventy-five percent of individuals with mental illnesses show symptoms by age 24 ― an age by which many are or are becoming functionally independent. University counseling centers can assist students to incorporate themselves into the college community — supporting development of an identity that integrates, not ignores, their struggles.

Socializing students with schizophrenia allows them to explore different aspects of their personalities that they may not be able to understand on their own. Review anxiety-inducing interaction themes with clients to better understand their social tendencies. Some students might feel most anxious in the classroom when they need to participate in academic conversations or take tests. Others might feel most apprehensive in their dorm rooms communicating with roommates; some might become paranoid as they walk around campus. Counselors might encourage family and childhood friends to help students with schizophrenia understand how they react to different situations, and to identify beneficial characteristics they may want to seek out in friendships and romantic relationships.

Support Systems on Campus Help Students Grow

The stigma traditionally associated with mental illness has been on the decline. As students acclimate to college, they are becoming more open to the idea of seeking help from mental health professionals if they are struggling ― 79.9 percent of college students would consider seeing a mental health professional if their health was declining.

Mental health advocacy groups and clubs on campus such as Students with Schizophrenia can be effective resources for students trying to socialize and adjust to college life with this diagnosis since members already have common interests. Plus, having peers who are encountering some of the same stressors can lead to more effective problem-solving.

Short-term residential community stays can also help socialize patients when treatment begins early. Hopewell’s unique approach to residential treatment encourages socializing with other young adult patients in several different settings. Residents actively improve communication skills that can be applied upon return to college.

Socialization can be more difficult for students with schizophrenia. But with support from counselors, family and friends to uncover primary social stressors and identify healthy coping mechanisms, students can start college, stay in college, and return to college successfully.

When young adults with major depression decide to enter the workforce, they might go through a number of emotions. For those with serious mental illness unemployment rates are high even though many want to work. In 2016, individuals between 25 and 54 with depressive disorders had a 32.4% unemployment rate while the national average was around 5%.

Finding and keeping a job – with any mental illness – can be complex. Coaching young adults through the process is crucial, but well worth the task, as once they find meaning in their work, the motivation that cones from that meaning has the potential to powerfully impact their well-being.

Identify meaningful work opportunities

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects the right to access mental health support without fear of losing a job. There are restrictions to the ADA, though. Some smaller employers are not bound by the same rules, but conscientious employers make reasonable accommodations for team members.

As a counselor, encourage people to seek out employers who have flex time policies, telecommuting options, short-term/long-term disability plans, and mental health benefits in their healthcare plans. There are many types of employment that young adults with depression can consider as they search for meaning in their work.

Supported Employment

Employment centers help people find and keep a job that works best for their schedule. A vocational counselor assesses their interests as well as prepares them for full-time or part-time work. Local vocational rehabilitation centers guide young adults through this process. Supported employment models are successful (about 60% employment rate versus 24% for those not in supported employment programs), but they are not well funded, and are sometimes inaccessible.

Volunteer Work

Volunteering can be fulfilling for young adults, especially to re-acclimate themselves to regular working hours. These positions can promote skill-building and are highly rewarding without the same pressures of a traditional desk job; but the fact that these positions do not pay may make it difficult for young adults who live independently. Volunteer Match can help young adults find an organization that fits their schedule and abilities.

Internships

The major benefit to internships is forming a mentor-mentee relationship in a workforce setting. Although internships can be lower paying or even unpaid, securing an internship can aid people in their professional development pursuits and even figure out whether a specific industry is the right fit. Internships typically offer flexibility, as many interns are college students with a full class schedule. For college students, internships might even be eligible for class credit.

Part-Time Employment

Part-time work can also help people ease back into employment after breaks. Although part-time positions do not always include benefits, they can offer flexible hours, which might be a greater priority. Meaningful part-time jobs still carry the same motivational and well-being benefits as full time employment, allowing people to engage with others with similar interests and form lasting bonds.

Entrepreneurship

When traditional employment options seem daunting, patients can start their own business, especially if they already have concepts in mind. The Abilities Fund provides funding to individuals with major depression as well as other mental and physical illnesses so they can thrive in entrepreneurial settings. Entrepreneurship, while a worthwhile pursuit for some, requires discipline. Encourage people to find support groups or organizations to assist them through the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, should that be the employment path they decide.

Residential Treatment Facilities

Effective residential treatment facilities provide work options to their residents. Each facility offers unique responsibilities. In a farm setting, residents might facilitate animal care, prepare meals from the garden, and/or tend to the land. At Hopewell, we even have a maple sugaring team in addition to teams who work in the garden, in the wood shop, and other places around the farm. Meaningful work in that capacity builds self-esteem and aids in filling employment gaps on a resume.

Find a personal connection

When employees are happy, companies thrive. Help people find meaning in what they do, no matter what kind of employment works best for them. In fact, finding meaning in jobs can increase motivation, performance, and personal fulfillment, among other advantages. When young adults seek out meaning in their work, this meaning does not have to relate to the job itself; external factors such as the desire to support one’s family can have just as significant of an impact as enjoying the job itself.

When young adults have identified their passion – a career they feel called to pursue – they are more likely to continue on that path. When an individual truly enjoys their overall vocation, even mundane or grueling tasks contribute to their passion for the position.

Plan for the future

Meaningful work for young adults can also mean attending college. While college can be supplemented by work experiences, the college experience itself can have great impact (both negatively and positively) on a students’ mental health. Whether people are considering college prior to the workforce, using it to build their skills while in the workforce, or if they are already in college, show them ways to find meaning in their packed collegiate schedules.

• Identify collaborative opportunities. Support groups are a crucial part of college students’ experiences, especially those with major depression. Participating in groups or volunteering in a leadership role can propel students forward to maintain a positive outlook.
• Be careful with social media. Although there are positive aspects of social media such as building professional networks, cyberbullying and negative self-image are a couple of the negative effects college students have to combat. Remind young adults to unplug every so often, especially while at work.
• Help them develop healthy coping mechanisms. Exercising, volunteering, and getting enough sleep are all foundational tips for college students daily. But to be successful at work, it’s especially important that they identify effective techniques for calming themselves during depressive episodes. Taking deep breaths or stepping away from work for a few minutes can make all the difference.

Unemployment rates for young adults with major depression are high, but a support system that pushes for meaningful work opportunities contributes to a healthier mindset, allowing patients to develop long-term coping mechanisms to combat depression.

Residential treatment facilities that are therapeutic communities, such as Hopewell, take a “community as healer” approach, inspiring residents to improve the community as a whole and to discover their strengths in new ways. Meaningful work leads to higher self-esteem and a sense of belonging while also showing young adults with major depressive disorder and other serious mental illnesses that they can accomplish anything.

Coordinated care is a whole person-centered approach to improving mental health outcomes that involves individuals who proactively collaborate across the spectrum of medical, psychosocial, emotional and therapeutic support, and it’s particularly pivotal in the treatment of early psychosis. In a 2017 study, researchers found that patients who received coordinated specialty care (CSC) saw education and employment rates increase from 40% to 80% by 6 months, hospitalization rates decrease from 70% to 10% by 3 months, and improvement in GAF scores continue for 12 months.

When dealing with possibly debilitating mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, major depression or bipolar disorder, there’s simply no overstating the impact coordinated care has on outcomes. With coordinated care, a college student is more likely to return to school, graduate, and go on to develop a career; without it, one may be more likely to withdraw from school and rely on disability to survive.

That’s just one aspect of outcomes, the benefits of coordinated care are myriad. And when clinicians involved in any part of a patient’s care do not communicate, and families are not educated, it quite certainly puts the patient’s health and quality of life in great jeopardy. There is no more critical time in the life of a patient diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder than the first episode.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), in the United States, about 100,000 teenagers and young adults each year experience a first episode of psychosis, with peak onset between the ages of 15 and 25. While there are early signs of psychosis, typically a person suffering a psychotic episode sees, hears or feels things that aren’t there (hallucinations) or develops strong beliefs inconsistent with the person’s culture, and which are unlikely to be true and may seem irrational to others (delusions). When such hallucinations or delusions take hold, the person experiences a break from reality ? this is a psychotic episode.

With an average of 35.6% of 18- to 24-year-olds enrolled in college according to the last U.S. Census, that means many are college students at the time of a first episode. A student beginning to show symptoms might withdraw from friends and activities, hear disparaging voices, speak in a disorganized manner, or ignore hygiene.

Psychosis can be bewildering and terrifying for the sufferer as well as family and friends, but this is especially true for a first episode, let alone one that occurs in a social setting such as a college campus. If the wide range of ways psychosis presents is any indication, it’s not a wonder that it “takes a village” to help sufferers.

Unfortunately, at the time of a first episode, parents may feel so powerless to help that they take their child to the emergency room and teachers may become so frightened that they call the police. In short, psychotic episodes often devolve into crisis, but institutions that help during crisis are not designed to treat the whole of a complex mental illness such as schizophrenia. Usually, after stabilizing, the patient is discharged. At best, they are provided pamphlets about the most typical choices for next-step care ? inpatient hospitalization or an intensive outpatient program. Students miss so much school that they drop out or worse, are not allowed to return. A downward spiral begins.

“Preventing negative events like dropping out of school, losing the ability to work, and losing contact with friends and family also has the potential to reduce indirect costs to society,” the NIMH website notes. Further, coordinated care following first episode psychosis is not only about helping people return to a path toward productive, independent lives, it could make the difference between life and death. According to Treatment Advocacy Center, “compared with the general population of all ages, the mortality rate following first-episode psychosis was 89 times higher.” Jail, chronic illness and substance abuse are all prevalent consequences of lack of proper treatment as well.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, coordinated specialty care consists of the following six key components:

• Case management – This overall approach helps people develop problem-solving skills, manage medications, and coordinate services.
• Psychotherapy – Sessions focus on personal resiliency and managing the condition, such as developing coping skills and focusing on self-care and wellness.
• Medication management –Antipsychotic medicines can work well, but it can take time to find the most effective medication at the most appropriate dose that the patient can adhere to over time.
• Supported education and employment – A psychotic experience often disrupts major life activities, so it is crucial to support the person’s ability to continue or return to school or work.
• Family support and education – Psychosis affects many others beyond just the person who experiences it, so it’s important for families to have the knowledge and skills to support treatment and recovery.
• Peer support – Given the stigma that still unfairly surrounds mental illness, connecting with others who have been through similar experiences can help the patient cope with the diagnosis.

These components are ingrained in our model of care at Hopewell. As a residential therapeutic farm community, we provide 24/7 life skills training, psychotherapy, medication management, meaningful work, family interaction and a peer community in a nurturing environment. By specializing in schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, major depression, and bipolar disorder, Hopewell is uniquely positioned to apply the type of coordinated care that can help a student cope with serious mental illness and return to college. The sooner someone who has experienced a first episode can receive coordinated care, the more likely they are to reduce symptoms and maintain quality of life.

The topic of mental health has moved increasingly into the mainstream on college campuses, and that’s a good thing. Today, there is more awareness, there are more programs, and there is more understanding than ever before. Issues including the stigma of seeking out care, while still existent, are becoming less common. That said, mental health is still far from enjoying the mainstream understanding and support that other illnesses benefit from.

When confronted with a mental health issue, families and college students will no doubt be caught off guard, confused, and have many questions. What is the optimal path of treatment? Does the student need to take a leave of absence? Will they be able to return to school? They will likely be unsure of treatment options, next steps, and most importantly lack clarity on what the future holds. The guidance of a college health counselor can be critical.

One treatment option that may be not fully known to parents and students is residential treatment. Before we discuss situations and diagnoses that may benefit from this form of treatment, it might be helpful to break down the space more broadly to understand the full slate of options.

Forms of Mental Health Treatment

Hospitalization and Inpatient Care

Occasionally, hospitalization is necessary for optimal mental health treatment, and these patients are often referred by loved ones or a first responder. Rarely do patients choose to enter hospitalized care themselves. This form of care can be helpful in stabilizing patients during acute episodes, especially a first occurrence or initial diagnosis of severe mental illness. These patients generally need constant monitoring and medication adjustment. The goal is to get their disorder under basic control and to determine the best next steps after inpatient care.

Intensive Outpatient Care (IOP) or Partial Hospitalization Programs (PHP)

Unlike inpatient hospitalization, patients in IOP and PHP settings do not stay in a health care facility 24 hours a day. Treatment is scheduled over several hours, several days a week. The specific number of hours and days spent at the facility varies depending on the program and the patient’s needs. This treatment is often used as a step down from hospitalization as people stabilize and learn to cope with a new diagnosis or medication regimen.

Residential Treatment

Residential treatment itself encompasses a variety of settings that vary in terms of services, psychiatric disorders treated, and approaches to treatment. Some focus on community and socialization, others focus on independence. The American Residential Treatment Association (ARTA) categorizes residential treatment into four groups.

• Clinical residential – often feature private and semi-private assisted-living style settings with professional, clinical care
• Group residential – group homes which utilize their communities as a part of the treatment process
• Apartment-based – offer a sense of independence with a center of treatment and socialization nearby
• Farm-based – characterized by a balance of therapeutic work opportunities within a therapeutic community in nature, with professional clinical care

There is no right course of treatment for every person. It’s important to point out the inherent variability and personal nature of a mental illness. College counselors, medical professionals, even families and friends all play a role in understanding the needs of a someone suffering with a mental illness.

Hopewell is a farm-based residential therapeutic mental health community, and we believe residential treatment, especially for college students with certain diagnoses, has some distinct advantages compared to other types of treatment.

Advantages of Residential Treatment

For serious psychiatric illnesses such as major depression, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder, the most successful people learn to cope with their disease throughout their daily life. There isn’t a cure or a shortcut to achieving this balance. That’s why residential treatment can be so beneficial. It gives people the time, support and structure necessary to deal with their disease.

The first and most distinctive benefit of residential treatment is its support structure and care. While under supervision, residents are immersed in a healing atmosphere and learn to live with their illness by developing positive habits in support of their treatment goals. By contrast, no matter how effective the treatment in an outpatient setting, patients are still living within the world where their mental health issue developed. They may still be dealing with work, providing care for others, and in some cases remain around people other people who may influence ineffective behavior. These can be difficult positions to be in for people learning to manage medications and cope with major illness.

Mental illnesses can be isolating, even among the closest family and friends. The social component of residential treatment can also be immensely beneficial. Receiving the support and solidarity of those that are learning to live with similar issues, cope with similar problems, and navigate their new lives can be very helpful. The natural support group that forms within a residential treatment is a critical element of treatment.

Then there is the advantage of stepping outside of one’s usual context and seeing the world in a new way. Residential treatment provides a new environment, which ? for many ? can be empowering. For example, experiencing nature can be a powerful element of the healing process. With farm-based facilities, the work in which residents participate is therapeutic and offers new ways of thinking, feeling and behaving.

Additionally, we believe residential treatment, while requiring a commitment of time away from their education, gives students the best chance of returning to a level of normalcy, and to their studies, once treatment is complete. At Hopewell, we’ve even had residents enroll in college classes during the recovery process. Whereas intensive outpatient and partial hospitalization-based programs attempt to provide stabilization and coping tools in the context of the rest of a client’s current situation, we feel many people could benefit from the separated immersive and 24/7 experience residential treatment provides.

We believe residential facilities provide treatment that allows people to most effectively command their lives, learn to take medication properly, and return to the highest level of functioning they are capable of.

What to Look for in Residential Treatment

Accreditation and/or licensure

Licensing requirements vary from state to state, but high-quality facilities will often seek accreditation from organizations such as the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), the Council on Accreditation, and The Joint Commission. For instance, Hopewell is licensed and certified by the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and was the first therapeutic farm community in the United States to be accredited by CARF for Therapeutic Community: Mental Health (Adults). Hopewell is also a member of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI, and the American Residential Treatment Association (ARTA).

Additionally, you may consider a facility that has partnered with objective research partners. At Hopewell, we have completed several outcome studies at the farm with the help of Case Western Reserve University.

Staff and therapies

No two mental illnesses are alike and it is important for a facility to have a variety of treatments to respond to the individual needs of each resident. Look for a description of the center’s overall approach to treatment. At Hopewell we call offer a multi-faceted approach to providing customized and balanced care to each resident. Additionally, residential environments require talented staff capable of balancing the various needs and dynamics present in a group setting. Many treatment centers provide a the biographies and experience of their staff on their websites.

Residential Treatment Checklist

Finally, if you are considering residential treatment for someone in your care, consider the following as you guide them through the process:

• Be educated and know there are options – mental health treatment is not one size fits all and you should be ready to ask questions and understand why a certain path may be most appropriate.
• Talk to care providers – this is the only way to understand if a facility could be the right fit. Hopewell is available to answer specific questions about our program or to provide more general guidance.
• The financial situation – private health insurance and government programs such as Medicaid are often not available for residential treatment facilities, which can put treatment out of reach for some. Hopewell works with philanthropic organizations and donors to bring down costs to a minimum and we work with families on an individual basis to explore options for treatment.
• Know what’s right for your client – is distance a concern, or a benefit for someone who needs to separate themselves from the stress and strains that accompany their mental illness? Does the facility you are considering offer all the therapeutic modalities you think would be helpful? These are questions no one can answer for you.

Choosing the best care for each client is a difficult process, but the first step is to understand the landscape of options. Residential treatment has significant advantages when compared to other forms of treatment for specific clients. By knowing the options and potential for care, a decision can be made about the best treatment path to approach.

Nationally, there’s much debate about whether there is indeed a mental health crisis on college campuses. Is occurrence and prevalence of mental illness actually rising among students, or is our culture becoming more accepting of seeking treatment for mental health issues, so more students are speaking up? Statistical interpretation aside, not every student struggling with symptoms of a psychiatric disorder seeks care. One factor that impedes help-seeking and undermines the service system is mental health stigma.

Far more than any other type of illness, mental disorders are subject to stigmatization. Negative stereotypes often pair mental illness with violence and incompetence, and place blame on the person for their illness. This kind of public stigma may even become internalized as self-stigmatization – compounding the distress.

Both these types of stigma are risk factors for suicide. In a time when 1 in 5 college students reports having had thoughts of suicide in the past year, continued breakdown of stigma and other barriers to help-seeking should be a vital component to any campus wellness strategy. Take inspiration from the following strategies and resources to break down stigma on your college campus.

Empower Everyone

Education has long been a key component in reducing stigma around mental health. Some institutions are taking it a step further to focus on practical training and programs for non-mental health professionals such as faculty and students. In 2018, Kent State University received the honor of being named one of the healthiest universities in the nation, partly because it provided mental health training to more than 700 students, faculty and staff members. The University of Texas at Austin started BeVocal, designed to enhance bystanders’ confidence to intervene, including stepping in when someone is being bullied, shunned or otherwise stigmatized.

For the past few years, many campus orientations have included at least an explanation of the internal mental health resources available to students. On other campuses though, students take a mandatory mental health literacy training course during orientation, where they learn about signs and symptoms. They’ll also be given advice on how to approach personal struggles, as well as those of loved ones.

Still other institutions are receiving guidance from unexpected sources. In Philadelphia, city government officials created HealthyMindsPhilly.org. It is a decidedly unbureaucratic-looking online resource designed to support and improve mental health and well-being of those who live, work and study in the city. Part of that mission includes onsite, personalized training for college and university faculty, staff, families and students. The program teaches participants how to help one another within the context of their respective campus culture and available resources.

Go Campus-wide & Campus-Deep

Initiatives are a great way to start organizing your campus around the idea of fighting mental health stigma. If you don’t have the resources to develop your own campaign, there are plenty of credible organizations that can help. NAMI’s StigmaFree campaign encourages a pledge of solidarity at all levels of campus culture. NAMI provides both free and for-sale items to support campaign adoption as well as a quiz on the effect of stigma that can be sent to students, parents, and faculty by email. Send Silence Packing is a powerful ongoing exhibit developed by Active Minds that aims to spur conversation about mental health and suicide. The campaign began in 2008, and with its hundreds of backpacks representing those affected by suicide, it is a potent way to convey the critical need for open conversation about mental health.

Transcend structure on your campus to delve deeper into solutions that fight stigma and remove barriers to seeking help. At Ohio State University, a number of departments, including the College of Social Work, now collaborate with the university’s Office of Counseling and Consultation Services to embed a clinical social worker or other mental health professional directly in academic programs. Similarly, the University of Michigan has 12 embedded counselors, including psychologists and social workers, in schools with notoriously rigorous academics, such as engineering, dentistry and pharmacy. Other schools have placed counselors in the athletic department because athletes often face a culture that stigmatizes mental health issues as weakness.

Let Technology Help

Students now are more than tech-savvy, they’re digital natives – and they may be less interested in traditional mental health treatments. So while apps and websites are not a replacement for in-person therapy, wellness centers that don’t consider technology will do themselves and their students a disservice. You could develop your own app, like Harvard did, but you can also do something as simple as posting a list of recommended apps or displaying a kiosk where students can anonymously take mental health screenings.

A number of companies have risen to the challenge of thinking through ways to meet the demand for mental health on college campuses. YOU at College is a customizable resource accessed on a school’s website through a confidential profile. Because it tackles everything from academics and career path to stress and social life, it could help those needing mental health services to not feel they are on a path separate from other students. Conversation simulations like those by Kognito train students and faculty to respond appropriately in sensitive situations. Kognito itself has been adopted by more than 350 schools and universities nationwide.

Create Safe Spaces

If there weren’t a Starbucks every 10 feet, you might not buy so many lattes. Perhaps that’s the kind of strategy Penn State University had in mind when it set up a half-dozen drop-in clinics across campus. Dispersing physical access to mental health services could very well increase the likelihood that students seek care.

The move could also help destigmatize mental health by virtue of centers’ now-ubiquitous presence on campus. These clinics – placed in high-traffic areas such as residence halls and student unions – also allow students to consult a therapist without making an appointment, removing yet another hurdle to seeking help.

After evaluating data on students who seek mental health counseling at its main campus, the University of South Florida found that nearly a quarter didn’t actually need a therapist. Some students just needed better time management skills, or different ways to reduce anxiety. To help address such issues, the Tampa university created “relaxation stations” that include massage chairs and nap pods. Sometimes a safe space to decompress and to see that others need to do the same may be all that’s needed to help a student through the day.

Consult Resources for College Counselors

There are many approaches to reducing stigma, and if you’re looking for structured guides and professional forums, the following resources can be a great help.

• The JED Foundation Campus Mental Health Action Planning guide for promoting mental health and preventing suicide.
• Campus resources and programs from Half of Us, video and online content that highlights the real stories and issues college students face, and encourages them to reach out to campus or community resources if they need help.
• The HMN free Webinar Series provides an opportunity to discuss research findings in the field of college student mental health and their implications for practice.
• The HEMHA guide College Counseling from a Distance: Whether and When to Engage in Telemental Health Services.
• Education to share with students and faculty about positive language to use.
• A Guide to Incorporating Social-Emotional Learning in the College Classroom from the Society for the Teaching of Psychology.
• The National Academies Press outlines approaches to reducing stigma taken in Australia, Canada and England.
• Affordable Colleges Online has resources specific to college students living with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, including tips on accommodations.
• Accredited Schools Online features expert advice and school resources as well as innovative ideas for mental health on college campuses such as canine therapy and nap halls.

Despite the proliferation of mental health groups and initiatives, 47% of students surveyed in the 2017-2018 Healthy Minds Study believe “most people would think less of someone who has received mental health treatment.”

Thus, there is more work to be done on reducing stigma. And, as needed as additional counseling staff may be, most colleges and universities also realize the importance of taking fresh approaches to address mental health stigma on campus. Reducing stigma will go a long way for many students experiencing mental health issues.

For those students who need to take medical leave due to a serious psychiatric disorder, there are evidence-based residential programs such as our therapeutic farm community at Hopewell that can help college students learn the skills necessary to return to school.