Mental health on UNC campuses a top issue, Peter Hans says
The president of the UNC System called for renewed attention to mental health crises on…
The president of the UNC System called for renewed attention to mental health crises on campuses statewide.
CHAPEL HILL
UNC System President Peter Hans on Tuesday called for renewed attention to mental health crises on campuses statewide, asking both the academic world and society at large to create a culture of optimism and hope.
Speaking at UNC’s 2023 Mental Health Convening — an annual gathering of campus administrators, mental health providers, faculty and student leaders — Hans cited a “sense of urgency” about rising anxiety, depression and loneliness.
Since 2010, Hans said, the percentage of teens experiencing depression has doubled, as has the percentage of undergraduates. He held up his own phone, pointing to one source of social isolation, then mentioned a wider problem with alienated youth exacerbated by the pandemic.
“Our words influence others,” he said. “For too long now … our public life has been trending toward cynicism and suspicion, anger and outrage. The answer to despair is hope.”
Hans’ remarks came as the UNC system is giving renewed attention to mental health across its 16 public universities statewide.
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Crisis at NC State
Students have increasingly called for resources and programs following a string a deaths over the past academic year, including five suicides at N.C. State University in Raleigh.
N.C. State formed a task force last fall in response to student deaths, and its report showed 48% of those with suicidal thoughts had received no counseling or medication to address mental health.
A 2021 report issued by the UNC System found mental health services had escalated drastically, fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, and that campus counseling centers were struggling to keep pace.
In response, the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund granted $5 million to help the UNC System expand its service. Earlier this year, the governor’s office extended another $7.7 million.
Training for mental health first aid, or MHFA, is among those new and expanded services. As part of its effort, UNC has contracted with a national nonprofit to train faculty and staff to spot at-risk students showing signs of mental health problems or substance abuse disorders.
“We have folks in the dining hall that took the training,” said Bethany Meighen, vice president for student affairs, adding more than 3,000 have done so this year.
Other expanded services include after-hours phone service to connect students with mental health professionals, grants to help pay for off-campus care and a pilot program for “telepsychiatry.”
A problem at all campuses
UNC faculty and students have also grappled with suicide on campus in recent years, but the issue can get more attention at the larger schools in heavily populated areas. Hans stressed that care is just as dire at rural schools stretching from Pembroke to Cullowhee.
It can be hard to recruit mental health professionals on UNC’s rural campuses, Hans said, so telepsychiatry allows remote appointments with doctors who can both diagnose and fill prescriptions.
Meighen cited a new program that allows post-doctoral students to live on rural campus as case managers, where they can both save money on housing and easily work with students.
“The takeaway,” Hans said, “is so many people care so deeply about college students. They want to support them and help live lives of meaning that are not impaired by that sense of loneliness.”
This story was originally published March 21, 2023, 3:15 PM.
Josh Shaffer is a general assignment reporter on the watch for “talkers,” which are stories you might discuss around a water cooler. He has worked for The News & Observer since 2004 and writes a column about unusual people and places.
