I Love Data!
My heart was momentarily bursting when I read the news about the University of Utah receiving a $150 million dollar donation to create a Mental Health Institute. In reading the fine print though, I quickly returned to my normal jaded self. The article talks about research and clinical expansion, which can leave readers to wonder what this will truly look like. I specifically hang my hat on:
“The university didn’t yet have details as to how many clinicians, researchers and staff members would be hired with the gift. But Watkins said the institute will have a strong emphasis on innovating new ways to provide services to patients more efficiently in a state with some of the worst mental health statistics in the nation.”
This is music to my hopeful ears! As someone who is contemplating the idea of a PhD in research around collegiate mental health, I’m wondering if anyone from the University of Utah would consider reaching out to hire me to be a part of this opportunity. Being a part of the team that reimagines healthcare for college-aged individuals is something dreams are made of! If this happened, maybe I’d stop being the squeaky wheel for the first time in a very long time! I won’t hold my breath for being sought out to do research though. That’s a complete fantasy!
While I’m not holding my breath for the University of Utah’s outreach and recruitment, I continue to look towards other institutions who are doing research in this area. Out of Penn State is the Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH) where they host:
The collaborative efforts of over 600 college and university counseling centers and supportive organizations have enabled CCMH to build one of the nation’s largest databases on college student mental health. CCMH actively develops clinical tools, reports, and research using this data.
A lot of the recent data I lean on when giving presentations around the mental health on college campuses can be found in their Annual Report. Because of the hard work of CCMH I am able to share last year’s data, which can sometimes still be very relevant with this current year’s trends and barriers.
Another Big 10 school that is holding its own around data and collegiate mental health is at the University of Michigan. On campus, they have a Depression Center and host an Annual Depression of College Campuses Conference each Spring. Although I have yet to go, I imagine that because the Depression Center is through the Department of Medicine that this conference is filled with data surrounding depression in emerging adults. Just a hunch though!
Boston University just recently popped on my radar for an innovative program they’re implementing for college students who requested medical leave from universities across the country. The program is called NITEO and from what I have read, it appears to be rather inexpensive for a part-time supportive opportunity. While they are on leave from their home institution, they participate in a program at BU along with other students currently taking leave. The program itself seems pretty impressive, and yet I’d need to do more research around the exact student who needs support. From what I read, there is no clinical contact other than Coaching around wellness. For a student who has significant mental health issues, I don’t foresee this program being appropriate. I’ll also be more excited to read data surrounding its participants. Do they return to their home institution? If yes, do they graduate within a certain time frame or have a certain GPA? If they decide to transfer instead, what is the timeline for graduation or GPA? Most importantly if they were struggling with mental health issues prior to participating in the BU program, do participants remain stable in their collegiate career or relapse? I’m so curious to learn more and know if this is working!
Lastly, as most of you know that I was able to twist Mike Petree’s arm, of Petree Consulting, to additionally add-in questions for young adults participants of treatment programs across the US. The questions included:
Whether or not a young adult was enrolled in college before their enrollment in treatment
If yes, what was the name of the institution.
If the student had requested medical leave, withdrawn on their own, or been suspended/expelled.
By collecting this data across hundreds of programs, we’ll have a rather large pool to share directly with the Dean of Students’ at colleges and universities across the country. No longer will a door to collaborate and help students leaving campuses be shut in our face. Rather, this data will open doors for discussion around the percentage of students leaving and the proposal for a partnership to somehow help with overall retention and matriculation numbers. In our eyes though, it’s not about retaining students but yet providing a direct line to getting care the moment a student steps off campus.
This, my friends is why I love data! And it’s why I’m foolish enough to consider going back to school to do research and provide innovative approaches and care to collegiate mental health! Are you listening, Utes? I’m waiting.
For questions or comments contact Joanna.
