Recent reductions to UCLA Counseling and Psychological Services appointments available free for students could hardly come at a worse time.

With public attention turned once again to the state of mental health services in recent months, higher education institutions must do everything they can to gauge and address the mental health of their students.

Earlier this month, UCLA Counseling and Psychological Services reduced the number of annual free appointments for students from 12 to eight.

Insufficient staffing, coupled with unexpected demand, left UCLA’s Counseling and Psychological Services with a difficult task. Ideally, UCLA will work with the counseling department to bring the number of free appointments back up, increase full-time staff at the program and expand the reach of its mental health-related services.

Reductions in mental health budgets are certainly not exclusive to UCLA. The mental health system in America has seen substantial reductions in recent years. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, almost 30 states have reduced mental health spending since 2008, with a third of those cuts surpassing 10 percent.

So regardless of finances, the fact remains that students’ mental and emotional health is at an all-time low nationally. According to a study conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, emotional health ratings for incoming freshmen at four-year universities have steadily decreased since 1985. Almost half of incoming freshmen in 2010 rated their mental and emotional health average or below average;  the same survey conducted for 2012 found that an even higher number of students reported similar mental and emotional states.

In light of this, university programs need to take extra steps to ensure their students are actively discussing and participating in programs that address mental health, treatment and prevention.

Small steps can be taken to give more attention to mental health and make it a part of everyday conversation in constructive ways.

This could include ensuring that students who are most likely to suffer from declining mental fitness are given the proper attention before permanent damage is done.

Howard Adelman, professor of psychology at UCLA and co-director of the Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA, said schools need to focus on mental health in more than just a clinical way.

“We need to move toward prevention and responding as problems begin to arise,” Adelman said. “The focus should be on mental health, not mental illness.”

Efforts to increase the salience of mental health should begin early.

Freshman orientation sessions have hosted wellness presentations in the past that touch on the subject of mental health.

However, these presentations, when coupled with the wealth of other information given to new students, can easily be forgotten. Such presentations can be useful, but they need to be supplemented with continued exposure to the idea of positive mental health.

The Hill provides an excellent environment to continue such positive exposure long after orientation is over.

The Office of Residential Life has already made strides in promoting mental health of students on the Hill, with dozens of programs that help students get their mind off academics and reduce stress, said Dana Pysz, assistant director of the Office of Residential Life.

While efforts on the Hill will reach a sizable segment of the student population, many more students live in other parts of Westwood, without the fliers, resident assistants and programming.

Although the number of students reaching out to UCLA’s Counseling and Psychological Services is increasing, it is likely that many more cases go unreported.

The 2011 National Alliance on Mental Illness survey found that while 73 percent of respondents said they experienced a mental health crisis in college, only 35 percent of them told their health center about it.

For such a sensitive and often overshadowed issue, no clear solution presents itself. The stigma surrounding mental health remains the No. 1 reason students don’t seek out psychological help when they need it, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness survey.

And with UCLA’s growing population, the size and access of UCLA’s resources must expand to meet new demand.

Given the steadily decreasing levels of mental health among students, more can be done to encourage students to educate and familiarize themselves with the idea of mental health.

Student mental health remains a taboo topic, and if the statistics are any indication, it will continue to pose a problem unless changes are made.

Email Powell at bpowell@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to opinion@media.ucla.edu or tweet us @DBOpinion.

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