{"id":3378,"date":"2020-12-15T21:07:04","date_gmt":"2020-12-16T02:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/?p=3378"},"modified":"2021-03-18T19:55:31","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T23:55:31","slug":"cuny-allocates-5-million-for-mental-health-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/2020\/12\/cuny-allocates-5-million-for-mental-health-services\/","title":{"rendered":"CUNY Allocates $5 Million for Mental Health Services"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Hunter
Hunter College will be using the allocated money to expand mental health services at the Wellness Center.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

During their freshman year, Hunter student Gillian Ochoa visited Hunter\u2019s Wellness Center, seeking support for school related stress and anxiety. After one intake session at the center, Ochoa, a studio arts major at Hunter who uses they\/them pronouns, was referred elsewhere for therapy. Deterred, Ochoa said it felt like the staff at the center didn\u2019t have the time or resources to see them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, with the recent announcement of CUNY allocating <\/span>$5 million <\/span><\/a>toward mental health services to combat COVID-19 related stress, students like Ochoa may have access to more counselors and long-term therapy services across the campuses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By expanding the number of <\/span>mental health professionals <\/span>certified in teletherapy, short-term care and crisis management, Hunter aims to help students facing pandemic-related issues.\u00a0 \u201c<\/span>These counselors will also be involved in the development and implementation of workshops and support groups with the goal of reaching and serving a wide variety of Hunter College students, said Martin Pino,<\/span>, director of\u00a0 <\/span>Hunter\u2019s Counseling and Wellness Services.<\/span><\/p>\n

Worldwide, <\/span>o<\/span>ne third of college freshmen <\/span><\/a>reported symptoms of mental health disorders due to school related stress, according to a 2018 study conducted by the American Health Association. The same study found that most university counseling centers were ill-equipped to take care of all of the students seeking help as part of what AHA\u2019s researchers are calling \u201ca key global mental health issue.\u201d The COVID-19 pandemic only compounded the mental health struggles students are facing. CUNY cited the growing need for remote counseling services as a definitive factor in why they chose to invest the money they received through the federal CARES act in wellness centers across campuses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ochoa said the expansion couldn\u2019t come sooner, especially given the added stress of remote learning during a pandemic. They said they only wished the expansion had been implemented earlier, when they first sought out their services. \u201cIt just felt really depersonalized, almost like they had no time to talk to me,\u201d said Ochoa about the first time they sought out therapy. \u201cIt sucked to be at the wellness center and not be able to get care at the wellness center.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fellow student Kana Tateishi, a senior sociology major, said she appreciated the guidance she received from the center her freshman year, but felt she needed more support. \u201cIt feels like there aren\u2019t enough counselors for the student body,\u201d said Tateishi. She attended one intake followed by two short term therapy sessions before she was referred out for more long term therapy. The symptoms she was experiencing and the stress of school made it difficult for her to seek out any of the therapists they directed her to. \u201cI\u2019m depressed so it\u2019s already hard for me to go to the intake appointment,\u201d she said. \u201cTo expect me to go to these institutions with long waitlists and that aren\u2019t affordable is a lot.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Pandemic related stress is what first drove Sarah Farr to seek out counseling. The 25-year-old graduate student worked at a nursing home when the pandemic began. Her anxiety worsened as patients of hers died from the virus. In search of a support system, she turned to Hunter\u2019s online therapy services. \u201cThey helped me identify next steps and what I had to do to feel emotionally better and I\u2019m thankful for that,\u201d said Farr. She said that while the counseling she received was helpful, she wished more services were offered to students.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tateishi said she is excited at the prospect of more help for students and hopes to see an expansion of services in line with what students are asking of the wellness center. \u201cIt\u2019s great that they\u2019re getting money,\u201d she said. \u201cI just hope that they listen to student feedback and invest it in a good way.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students\u2019 mental health has taken a hit over the course of the pandemic. CUNY is trying to help by allocating $5 million towards counseling services. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":3379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,324],"tags":[303,279,355],"class_list":["post-3378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-student-life","tag-covid19","tag-huntercollege-hunterstudents","tag-hunternews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3378"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3394,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3378\/revisions\/3394"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}