In the intervening months, the tragedy has stirred discussion on the broader subject of mental health resources at the College—namely, the Counseling Center.
While the Center, by law, cannot confirm nor deny that Kim received counseling there, several of her friends have insisted that she did. In the wake of her death and the subsequent increased awareness of the Center’s services, a petition, an Association of Amherst Students (AAS) resolution and an independent video project on the Center have all sprouted in the past semester.
With close to 500 signatures, the petition outlines three key demands for the Center: review of the staff members’ qualifications and dedication, periodic reevaluation of counselors for internal quality control based on student feedback and precise guidelines for referring patients to outside resources. Eon Ho Song ’08, a friend of Kim’s, drafted the petition because of his disappointment with the Center’s services. “There’s a serious problem here and they don’t want to admit it,” said Song.
Monday night, the AAS passed a resolution that did not stipulate requests that were as specific, but similarly called for an external review of the Center. Josh Stein ’08 introduced the resolution proposal at last week’s senate meeting. “I have this resolution, it doesn’t require us to do much, except to be the voice of the student body and to say that we feel this is a good idea to have this center evaluated to make sure it’s suiting the needs of the student body as best as it really needs to,” he said.
Director of the Counseling Center Jacqueline Bearce has not been approached by either the petition writers or the AAS. “I wish the AAS and the petition people had come and had a conversation with us,” said Bearce. “We are open to talking to students. We really want to be of assistance.”
Dean of Students Ben Lieber likewise has not seen the petition or spoken with the AAS, though he said the administration already has plans to bring in a visiting committee to evaluate the Center. “I want them to examine all sorts of issues,” said Lieber, adding that it is “particularly crucial to meet the needs that keep growing so rapidly.” In the immediate future, Lieber said plans to increase the Counseling Center’s staff are on the table.
Identifying Weaknesses
To asses whether the complaints raised by some AAS senators and the petition signers were exceptions or the norm, The Student conducted an informal survey of the student body and received replies from 404 students, 145 of which said they had used the Center’s services. In their written responses, many of these students described the Center as a much needed outlet to vent and talk in confidence with a counselor about a whole range of issues.
“I feel like a huge burden is lifted off my shoulders every time I visit my psychologist/ psychiatrist. Furthermore, it’s relatively easy to reserve an appointment,” said one student.
“I don’t really understand what problems people have with the Counseling Center. Maybe I just have one of the good counselors, but going there is one of the best things I’ve done here,” said another student.
“My counselor has been someone here on campus with whom I can share completely honest and intimate feelings without feeling embarrassed or awkward. I have learned many tools to help manage my emotions and insecurities about being at college,” said another.
The praise was contrasted with a range of criticisms, the majority of which cited specific, individualized experiences, such as a counselor’s lack of concrete advice or perceived lack of effort to connect with the student.
“I am glad the Counseling Center is available to me, but I have found it is not suited to my particular long-term, unusual needs,” responded Leslie M. ’09. “I believe it is really set up to help students with acute problems that improve with short-term treatment; I think it handles those cases well.”
Another reoccurring complaint concerned scheduling. “I rated the service ‘good’ and not ‘great’ just because of some difficulties I’ve had with scheduling,” wrote Eloise Green ’10E. “I do believe the Counseling Center is understaffed and the counselors themselves are generally overworked.” Still others said the 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday hours do not adequately accommodate Amherst students’ busy schedules.
“I went once each year I have been at Amherst and two out of my three years, I stopped going because I felt that the counselors did a poor job of actually trying to help me and that I was better off just dealing with my issues myself,” said one student who wished to remain anonymous. “I kept going back because I would hit a point again where I would feel so badly that I felt I needed help from a professional, however the help was never satisfying. They never seemed as if they cared much about my situations, they often seemed at lost as I was trying to deal with my issues, and scheduling was close to impossible.”
One sophomore recounted an experience in which her counselor terminated her counseling sessions and did not set her up with a different counselor. According to the student, the counselor implied that the reason for the abrupt cessation of counseling was because the student’s ex-boyfriend had started seeing the same counselor for therapy.
Lieber explained that students complete surveys each year to evaluate their experiences at the Center. In years past, he said, the reviews have largely commended the services, though not completely. “A large of number of students said they have had positive experiences there,” said Lieber. “While the negative accounts did not appear to be representative of the typical counselor center experience, they were nevertheless alarming.” Lieber said that complaints have surfaced surrounding the interactions students have had with one or two counselors. “A couple of problematic interactions with an individual therapist by and large shouldn’t be used to characterize the functioning of the entire Counseling Center.”
Stepping Up Assessment
A chief demand of the petition is to increase evaluations of the Center. According to Bearce, there are already a number of self-evaluative methods in place. For one, a survey is distributed on a semester-by-semester basis to every student who visits the Center. Last year, 35 percent of eligible students replied in the fall while 34.5 percent answered in the spring. The survey consists of a mix of multiple choice and open ended questions, all of which are reviewed by Bearce. In addition, Bearce said that she conducts formal evaluations of the entire Counseling Center staff.
At present, the staff consists of three half-time counselors, one counselor who works nearly full-time, two interns, two psychiatrists and Bearce, who works full time as a counselor. All of the counselors are psychologists and have academic doctorates. The two psychiatrists are medical doctors and are seen by students upon referral from a counselor. The two interns function as part-time counselors, seeing students as part of their doctrinal studies. Bearce said the interns provide much needed additional staff and receive considerable supervision.
Bearce said that she leads weekly meetings both for the entire staff as well as one meeting for just the psychology staff. At the latter, Bearce and the other counselors discuss and consult with one another on particularly complex or severe situations. Each counselor at the Center has his or her own theoretical approach to therapy and Bearce does not dissuade this. With the exception of its confidentiality statement, the Center does not have any written guidelines for how counselors should deal with specific problems. “Everyone is licensed and trained to make educated clinical decisions,” said Bearce.
One of the demands within the petition is for the Center to establish set guidelines for referring patients to outside help. As it stands, the Center does not have an established policy to decide when and how a patient should receive help beyond the Center and strictly deals with it on a case-by-case basis. Within the Student survey, three students said the lack of follow-up on the part of the Counseling Center in finding outside therapists was discouraging, and that they ended up not receiving outside therapy when they otherwise might have.
“We make recommendations to students ‘who require more professional, long-tem care to outside sources’ based on their treatment needs and the available resources at the Counseling Center. This item on the petition asks for ‘precise guidelines’ that determine such recommendations. This is certainly an understandable request,” said Bearce. She added, “We can certainly add some specificity to what we have already said in various published statements and make these guidelines more available.”
Matters of Privacy
“Students are assured that what they say to us stays with us,” said Bearce. Students who visit the Counseling Center must sign a confidentiality statement that confirms the Center will not release information collected by the counselors unless “there is an imminent risk of injury (specifically: suicide, assault, child or elder abuse). In such emergencies, when someone is physically at risk, confidentiality must take second place.” Besides this statement, the Center does not have a nuanced policy explaining exactly what defines ‘imminent’ or who should be contacted if confidentiality needs to be breached.
According to Bearce, often when a student is particularly distressed, the counselor will ask if he or she has experienced suicidal thoughts. Affirmative answers do not warrant a violation of confidentiality in the absence of an imminent risk of danger. This, Bearce said, is standard practice. Bearce stressed the word “imminent” in describing the Center’s policy. “Bear in mind, people’s rights can’t be taken over for what they might do, but what they are likely to do.”
“The way we have of evaluating potential suicides are standard and the unfortunate part of that is that we can’t always know what someone is going to do unless they tell us,” she said. “I know what people tell me and that’s what I have to use. There is a lot of information that says people who commit suicide don’t let on that that’s what they’re going to do. Because if we knew, then we would make an intervention.”
Raising Awareness
While recent events have brought added attention and scrutiny to the Counseling Center, AAS senators Jared Crum ’11 and Saumitra Thakur ’11 are still concerned that not enough students know what the Counseling Center does or even where it is. “Its location belies the distribution of information about it,” said Crum. Crum and Thakur both think more can be done to publicize the Counseling Center.
To that end, the two plan on producing a movie in which they interview different people involved in the Center to get a sense of what it is and what it does. They hope to have it completed by the end of the year and show it at next year’s first-year orientation. “We envision it as being part of a broader effort to improve the Counseling Center … making people aware of its existence and services is a first step,” said Crum.
Despite claims of underexposure, such as those made by Crum and Thakur, Bearce says that the number of students using the Center over the past few years has risen steadily. During the 2005-06 school year 245 students used the Center. Last year, this number crept up to 265 and, so far this year, the number has reached 277, and appointments are still being made. Bearce said there has been a surge of visits this semester in particular, and that for the first time, there is a waiting list for students wishing to see counselors.
The tragic death of Jenny Kim earlier this semester thrust the Counseling Center squarely into the spotlight. The Center took on a rare public role as it sought to help the Amherst community grieve, and it also met increased scrutiny as students wondered if the College’s exclusive psychological safety net suffers any shortcomings that merit attention. The circulating petition, the AAS call for an external review and the plans for a video together seek to keep this spotlight shining on the creaky third floor of Johnson Chapel, where the nine-person staff of the Counseling Center opens its doors to students each weekday. Said senator Pat Benson ’08 at the April 14 meeting of the Senate, “This is something that matters to Amherst students, and if we don’t have a heavy hand in this, then I don’t think we’re doing our job.”
Josh Glasser and Amanda
Hellerman contributed reporting.