Alexandra Tashman: UCLA’s CAPS needs steady funding to provide support

I’ve struggled on and off with depression and often debilitating anxiety since my freshman year of high school. At times, these issues have completely limited my ability to succeed academically.

I am not alone. I am not even uncommon.

In fact, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 25 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 24 “have a diagnosable mental illness.” At UCLA, our Counseling and Psychological Services helps treat and support students who are struggling with a litany of mental health issues.

Many don’t realize that this treatment is integral to sustained student retention. Oftentimes, students struggling with mental health issues decide to take some time away from school to recuperate, and many choose to drop out entirely.

CAPS cannot continue helping students reconcile their mental health with their academic responsibilities if there aren’t enough funds for them to do so.

As it stands, CAPS derives the majority of its funding from grants from the Student Affairs Administration, said CAPS director Elizabeth Gong-Guy.

However, it has to reapply for funding every two years for each of its staff psychologist positions – hardly a stable funding model for such a crucial resource.

In order to ensure that CAPS fulfills its purpose as both a mental health resource and a retention support system, it is imperative that students fight for greater funding for the institution.

This could be accomplished by using funding already aimed toward retention programs, or by reforming the process by which the Student Affairs Administration provides CAPS with funding to make it more sustainable.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness estimates that 64 percent of students who have left college did so for mental health reasons.

Furthermore, research published in the Journal of Counseling Psychology, an American Psychological Association journal, found that students who had received counseling while in school were 14 percent more likely to remain in school as opposed to students who did not get counseling.

Nonetheless, this past January, CAPS had to lower the number of individual sessions offered annually from 12 to eight because of increased student demand.

Furthermore, CAPS faces disproportionately high usage, treating 16 to 17 percent of the university community in comparison to universities with similar funding that treat 4 to 5 percent, Gong-Guy said.

This percentage disparity does not mean that the UCLA community is more mentally unwell than comparable universities, but rather that CAPS is successful in making its resources well known and available, she added.

In order for CAPS to meet student demand, it needs increased funding. And this increased support is essential to keeping retention rates high and students feeling well.

Thousands of students across this campus struggle with mental health problems, and it is imperative that we make sure that they can get as much care as they need through better funding and increased access.

Ideally, CAPS would not only raise the number of annual sessions back to the previous mark, but surpass it or guarantee student sessions based on individual need.