Valley colleges watch for signs of troubled students
Fresno Bee 4/29/07
Campus officials remember the case: A mentally ill student believed that the voice belonged to a university staff member.
When the student started e-mailing about the voice, the rattled staff member contacted campus authorities, who faced a reality they knew all too well.
Dorm advisers are trained to spot mentally troubled students. Instructors see their changed behavior. Campus psychologists counsel them. But how students get into counseling -- if they get into counseling -- is an imprecise process that sometimes depends on the right teacher befriending a student. And some authorities don't always talk to one another about troubled students on their campus.
The nation focused on the subject after Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people at Virginia Tech almost two weeks ago following several years of exhibiting bizarre behavior on the campus.
In the Valley, college officials say most students who seek counseling are depressed and suffer from anxiety. Some get so stressed they think of suicide. And a few have psychotic breakdowns.
College counselors say each case requires a different response.
"We're dealing with the human condition; it's very complicated," said Gena Gechter, coordinator of psychological services at California State University, Fresno. "There are no exact answers. People want us to say, 'Here's what happened in Virginia, here's how it happened and it will never happen in their town.' We can't predict things."
The college years can roil a student's mind.
Said Maggie Gartner, president of the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors: "There is a perception that this is going to be the happiest time of your life. But we see increased levels of anxiety and depression from all of our students as they try to succeed in a much more challenging world."
Gartner, who works at Texas A&M University, said there are no statistics on how many college students have mental disorders. But, she said, counseling centers around the country report that students are increasingly troubled. "There is more pathology coming through the door."
Furthermore, the college years can actually be the time that some mental disorders come to the surface.
"If you're predisposed to schizophrenia, stress can bring symptoms to the surface, and young adulthood is a time of such stress," said Brian Olowude, coordinator of psychological services at Fresno City College.
Olowude, who has a doctorate in clinical psychology, said he and his staff of six trainees and interns saw 201 students in individual sessions during the 2005-06 school year, the latest period for statistics. That is about 1% of the 22,000 students then enrolled at City College.
The University of California at Merced, which has nearly 1,300 students, has no figures on students in counseling this school year, said Debra Kotler, director of counseling services. She has a doctorate in clinical psychology and is the university's lone psychologist, aided by an intern in marriage and family therapy. UC Merced is hiring another clinical psychologist, officials say.
Since the Virginia Tech shootings, Kotler said, several professors at UC Merced have e-mailed her about helping specific students suspected of being depressed.
"I think everyone is on high alert," she said. "They're more vigilant about the mental health needs of students."
At Fresno State, about 1,100 students -- out of a student body of about 21,000 -- will seek help this school year from a counseling staff that includes three full-time and two part-time counselors, all with advanced degrees in psychology, counseling or social work. A part-time psychiatrist also is on staff.
Gechter and other members of her staff have trained some faculty and employees at Fresno State about the warning signs of depression and other mental disorders.
Training is largely voluntary, and not all 1,100 faculty and staff have been in settings where it has been provided, Gechter said.
Fresno State biology professor Fred Schreiber -- who has taught at the university since 1973 -- has had no training. But, he said, he's helped more than 100 students who had various problems.
"What I'm after is gaining enough confidence from the student that they're willing to take my advice to seek professional help," Schreiber said. "I'm not a trained therapist, and I don't try to be."
Schreiber said some students just need a sympathetic person to listen to their school problems. Others talk of suicidal thoughts and need to see a therapist, he said.
When students fall somewhere between those extremes, how does he know when to listen and when to urge they go to the university counseling center?
"I don't know," Schreiber said. "You just pay attention. I think I've been lucky in making the right decisions, and I think I would have benefited from some training."
At Fresno State, at least one small group of students -- residential advisers and their student supervisors -- are trained to watch for signs of psychological problems among the students in the dorms. Fresno State has about 1,100 dorm residents and 32 RAs and supervisors.
John Hernandez, a 27-year-old English graduate student from Corcoran, lives in the dorms and supervises RAs. Robert Rico, a 23-year-old from San Jose majoring in criminology and psychology, is a former RA who now works an overnight security detail in the dorms.
Worried students have come to Hernandez and Rico with concerns about their roommates' mental health, and both have followed up. Some of the troubled students went for counseling, and some put up a wall and said nothing was wrong. Neither Hernandez nor Rico said he gave up.
"Seeing someone in the bathroom brushing their teeth, you can talk to them about life in general," Rico said.
Whenever a student goes to an RA about a roommate, it is documented in a computer file. Hernandez said nothing is too small to record, not even a complaint that a roommate smells.
Added Rico, "That helps us keep people from falling through the cracks."
Erin Boele, director of housing at Fresno State, said one dorm student suffered a mental breakdown this school year. One RA knew the student well enough to notice his behavior change as he became nervous and withdrawn. The housing staff helped get the student into counseling, but he didn't get better. He talked of suicide, prompting the staff to call university police. The student ended up in the hospital for observation and eventually left Fresno State and went home to recuperate, Boele said.
"If there is any question about the student's mental health, the professionals on campus get involved very quickly," she said.
Robert Hernandez, judicial affairs officer, is one of those professionals at Fresno State. He gets involved when a student's behavior has alarmed someone on campus -- such as the student who was e-mailing about the voice.
Robert Hernandez talked to the student and laid down requirements for staying at Fresno State. The e-mails needed to stop. The student needed to be in counseling and verify that fact.
Hernandez said he didn't consider the individual a threat to anyone. So when the requirements were met, the student remained in school.
Hernandez said this allowed Fresno State officials to keep tabs on the student and it also benefited the young adult. "Bottom line, our goal is to help the student get through college successfully."
Hernandez did not recall calling university police about the student, though he said he normally does if there has been a threat, or faculty or staff are worried about their safety.
Gechter said her counseling staff, university police and Hernandez usually communicate about troubled students. Hernandez said he consulted with Gechter about the student who was hearing the voice.
But, if campus police don't need to be involved, they may remain "out of the loop," Gechter said.
She said she sees no need to change how university authorities communicate about troubled students. University Police Chief David Huerta said he tends to agree, especially when a student has done nothing illegal.
Nevertheless, Hernandez said university officials will re-examine that communication process.
Said Hernandez: "I think we have some pretty good procedures already. But it never hurts to go over them, especially in light of Virginia Tech."