Summer 2007

Morgan Gift Supports Student Counseling Services

While many of the gifts garnered through the Miami University Campaign For Love and Honor support the academic environment or infrastructure of the university, other gifts can have a direct impact on the wellbeing of the students themselves.

Margaret Clark Morgan, a 1940 graduate of Miami who earned a degree in education, believed strongly in one of those causes, and her recent gift has created the Morgan Family Student Mental Health Services Fund. The endowed fund was established not only to provide support for subsidizing the cost of caring for students with significant needs, but also to provide support for staff resources, medication and other costs associated with longer-term mental health care.

According to Dr. Kip Alishio, director of Student Counseling Services at Miami, the demand for such services has grown dramatically on college campuses across the nation since the late '80s. In 1989, Miami's Student Counseling Service provided 2,800 individual counseling sessions. Last year, that number reached 5,100.

Alishio attributes a number of factors to the rise, including the availability of safe and effective medications, the growing social acceptance of mental health care among students and their parents, and the belief that modern students are experiencing psychological stress at unprecedented levels.

"When you put all those factors together, it's putting tremendous pressure on colleges and
universities across the country to provide comprehensive mental health services," Alishio said. "It's the largest growing service being offered on campuses, and the demands are putting a tremendous strain on our staffs."

A recent study by the American Psychiatric Association revealed that nearly one-in-four adults will experience a depressive episode by age 24, and 14.9 percent of college students meet the criteria for clinical depression. Along with mounting pressures to set themselves apart in a competitive world, students also are coping with attention disorders, substance abuse, cases of sexual assault, eating disorders, and more. Many of these conditions and harmful patterns are in place before a student arrives on campus.

"The university does not see itself in the position of supporting long-term therapy in most cases, but it does see itself as responsible for providing short-term counseling as well as educational services and crisis and emergency services," Alishio said. "Our general objective is to help students successfully complete their education and move into an appropriate career path, while also providing the capability for healthy interpersonal relationships."

As part of the effort to ensure students are finding the help they need, the number of intervention related activities sponsored by Miami's Student Counseling Services, such as consultations and outreach programs, have nearly quadrupled in the last 15 years. Programs are in place to alert students, parents, faculty and staff and residential assistants as to the warning signs and proper avenues for treatment of mental health issues.

Presently, students have access to Miami Student Counseling Services through the funds paid into their health services fee, which allows for five free counseling sessions each year. Additional services or sessions are paid for out of pocket, though the fees are kept low. While the current program provides students with accessibility to these services, there are still many challenges for Alishio and his staff of eight full-time counselors, a full-time psychiatrist, and three trainees to face.

"Being from a rural community without access to a fully developed mental health system makes treatment of many cases difficult and sometimes impossible," Alishio said. "Mental health services are often expensive and most are not covered by insurance. Funds like these from Margaret Morgan are so important because they provide opportunities and allow students to be successful in achieving their goals."