The University of California Office of the President announced Thursday that it plans to hire 85 new mental health clinicians throughout its 10 campuses by the 2016-2017 academic year. Increased student services fees will support funding for the new hires, according to the UC announcement.
Furthermore, the campuses will identify communities not well represented by the current counseling roster and work to remedy that deficit. Additionally, the UC will expect new hires to have cultural competency skills and develop training for existing staff members.
This is a commendable move by the University. For months, this board and others have lambasted the insufficient mental health resources for students. Now, the University is not only taking a proactive step, but it is doing so with the right issues in mind.
Diversity is a particularly pertinent issue when it comes to counseling. Statistics show that members of underserved communities are more likely to suffer from mental health issues because of historic socioeconomic differences, as well as their communities’ denial of mental health issues. The U.S. Department of Human and Health Services’ Office of Minority Health found that black adults are 20 percent more likely to experience serious psychological distress. This makes them less likely to seek treatment despite being more likely to need it.
In a presentation at the UC Board of Regents meeting Thursday, Regina Fleming, the medical director of the UC Student Health Insurance Plan, outlined the UC-wide Counseling and Psychological Services goals to become a mental health service that ensures staff diversity and cultural competency, listing target groups including first-generation college students, black students, Middle Eastern students and military veterans.
She also listed the need for other skills, including multilingualism and sports psychology experiences.
It’s a process that has already been underway at some campuses. At UCLA in particular, CAPS offers services for lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender and queer students, a wide range of therapy groups including ones specifically for students of color and allows students to request counselors with similar backgrounds.
But it hasn’t always been easy. Former UCLA CAPS director Elizabeth Gong-Guy, who is now UC Office of Campus and Student Resilience director, said that during her time at CAPS, she tried to create a staff that mirrored the campus diversity. She added that ensuring diversity was sometimes difficult because clinicians were offered higher compensation elsewhere or couldn’t afford to move to Los Angeles.
This move, hopefully, will remedy some of those problems. At the very least, this action is a good first step in ensuring equitable and robust access to mental health services for all students at the UC.