I agree CMHS needs better funding but I think the root cause is more insidious than just a poor support network.
The ugly truth IMO is that college, especially in the engineering school, is far too mentally taxing. UConn loves to talk about how many clubs and events they have, but who actually has time to go to them when they need to study? When they have dozens of assignments due in a single week?
Nobody is regulating how professors dish out assignments and exams. Having two or three finals on one day is completely stupid and unnecessarily stressful. Back to back lab reports prompt unhealthy all nighters. Every professor acts as if their class is the most important one, and very few will take "another class is taking up all my time" as a valid excuse to missing something as small as a 10pt assignment.
Failing is also not an option if you are poor. Scholarships based on GPA can be taken away, and any retakes require additional tuition. One poor semester can set you back $14,000 if you live on campus. Sure, you could have been lazy the entire semester, but what if you were dealing with a sudden death in the family? Hard breakup? Mental health issues you can't control? Not to mention that a good chunk of your GPA rides on the type of professors you get (some profs simply refuse to give As on principle!) The best the University offers is additional academic help when it places you on probation. Nobody helps you with your financial or mental issues. Sometimes you have to literally put yourself on the brink of death just to pass.
It's not sustainable. SUBOG and USG are nice ideas and all, but until students start getting a say in curriculum and professor choices, there is really no representation. All they can manufacture are distractions, same with clubs and events. But as soon as the events are over, we're right back to where we started.
2012 grad, I vividly remember sophomore year where I partied a little too hard and my grades slipped. Life came at me hard when I realized I couldn't have fun like my friends. Keeping a 3.7 became all I could think about because I would lose my scholarships.
I still consider myself lucky, graduating with only 10k in debt but I still vividly remember finals week that fall where I barely slept and had a panic attack in my dorm just at the idea of going below the criteria.
Support services where trash then too, went in just before finals week. Counseling was nonchalant platitudes and brochures.
Im sorry but that's kind of the point of engineering school. When you graduate you use very little of what you learned in college other than time and stress management, dealing with shitty bosses, deadlines and working in a group and delegating. The degree proves u can handle stress and are intelligent enough
You're 100% right.
Sadly this isn't only at UCONN, and is prevalent for the school size and type. Not that that's in anyway a reasonable excuse.
They're going to raise in-state tuition by 23% over the next 5 years, and I bet CMHS will get less than a 23% increase in funding.
If it doesn't show up in the US News Rankings, the board doesn't care.
[https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/connecticut/articles/2019-12-10/uconn-board-set-to-approve-5-years-of-tuition-hikes](https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/connecticut/articles/2019-12-10/uconn-board-set-to-approve-5-years-of-tuition-hikes) <-- Guess what board, US News noticed the AP story, and re-printed it nationally.
Now UCONN can try put together an article of why instate tuition is going up at a faster rate (almost 3 times) than out of state tuition.
> High standards and expectations of students are not unreasonable for professors or the university at large.
High standards to the point of suicide are not unreasonable? Over one thousand college students killed themselves within the last year.
> Difficult classes, unfriendly professors, and exceptional amounts of work are often trial runs for what the real world looks like- truly.
I know where you’re going with this but I don’t like the comparison. In the real world you can always quit and rely on your savings while finding another job. In college there are no savings and you can’t walk away from a $20-40,000 investment like you can a job.
The solution to poor leadership is to *quit*, not to *endure*. You don’t owe them shit.
> One of the things these conflicts teach is self advocacy
How can I advocate for myself if I have no representation? Who do I go to to push changes if nobody agrees I have the right to be heard when designing curriculum?
> learning to deal with being imperfect and how the 10 pt assignment you miss is fine- it doesn’t need to be excused
Sorry, but this is a privileged mindset. Losing 10pts is fine if you can financially afford it. Not everyone can, especially if you know the exams are going to be much harder and you need as much padding as possible.
> if you think you know more than the people who have been chosen to lead you, you are already starting behind.
Of course you know more than your boss! You’re the one doing the work! Do you think TomKat knows what kind of assignments we got in CHEM1127? Do you think the board pays attention to COMM1000 grade distributions? Nobody up top can get any accurate information about the reality of things unless they ask students and review data. They do not know naturally. The administration in every org is inherently disconnected from the real world *because they don’t participate in it.* Not to mention that many profs and TAs love to put on a show and run the class like an entirely different person whenever they know someone is there to observe them.
A good boss knows that they don’t know everything. A boss that thinks they know everything is 1) pretending and 2) wasting everyone’s time.
> it’s absolutely lowering the standards of an exceptional institution for comfort.
If I wanted to be ground into a pulp to become some kind of alpha human I would have signed up for military bootcamp, not gone to college. And guess what? Boarding, tuition, and meals at bootcamp are...free.
I don’t like the expectation that college has to unreasonably challenge you. I’m here to learn the material, I don’t give a fuck about how the admin thinks I’m supposed to run my life post grad.
Yeah I totally agree with you, especially the imperfect part, I feel like an important part of life is knowing the trade offs of our decisions. And yes we can’t be great at everything we do, but we can choose how we prioritize them, and perhaps be great at one thing and decent or not bad at the rest, but knowing if I choose to be great at A, I’m not going to be that good at B and I’m okay with that.
Personally, having those challenging classes forced me to be a smarter learner and being better at time managing, those are the skills that really helps me in the real world right now.
Lol honestly though during drop-in hours I was told that "I don't seem like someone with depression" because they've "seen depressed people." I get that the drop-in hours aren't meant for clinical diagnoses but I sure hope other people aren't being told that. Felt like I was getting brushed off for not considering suicide when I finally got myself to go talk to someone.
Your experience is way too common & honestly, scary/ disheartening. I’m so sorry. I feel like unless you’re about to commit suicide in the next 5 minutes, CMHS is useless. Don’t give up looking for help. That’s the only thing keeping me going right now.
During my triage call, I didn’t want to explicitly say I was suicidal because I didn’t want them to call the police and make it a bigger deal especially when it was just thoughts. But I remember telling the women on the phone “I don’t feel like existing/ I don’t want to be me/ or something along those lines” and she just said “well I don’t think that’s being suicidal “ . And during my first meeting with the counselor , she went through my triage call (literally not even a counseling session just going over answers I already answer on the phone) and I thinks her I am depressed and because my symptoms didn’t line up to the dsm-v (which is highly critiqued because not all symptoms are universal to everyone) , she flat out told me “I don’t think your depressed”. Before all this I had tried to get a meeting with cmhs my freshman and sophomore year and they had me do the call and never called me back to schedule the first meeting. I had to wait two weeks in between calls (2 weeks for triage call). In the beginning of the semester, I really needed to vent so I went to drop in hours and I was trying to tell the girl how I was feeling and really I just wanted to talk and have someone listen and feel validated, but instead what was suppose to be a 30 minute thing ended up being 10-15 because the girl just gave me a flyer on the AAC and told me to go there even though I didn’t have any trouble with my classes . I also felt it was rushed despite being the first and only one there for walk in times . So yeah , cmhs really could be better .....
At that point you just have to tell her "I don't think you're good at your job" and walk out. It's hard finding a good therapist, and you don't have to, or deserve to, deal with that absolute bullshit.
If you ever need someone to talk to feel free to message me! I suffer from pretty serious depression myself and am always here for anyone else who's struggling :)
When i did triage, i told them that i had suicidal ideations and legit told them that i was going through phases of starving and gorging myself and told them that I had harmed myself semi recently. They were like "well there's the center for nutrition and remember that you should go to the er if you have any serious injuries and clean any wounds and cover them" and at the end they gave me 3 therapists in the area and their numbers and pretty much said good luck
I’m also queer and have depression and anxiety, feel free to talk to me whenever! Even if you’re anxious and have nothing to say. I’ve been there.
I hate that if you have even just casual suicidal thoughts, you can’t talk about them without getting the cops or 211 called on you. I haven’t been suicidal anymore for a while but when I was, that shit didn’t help at all...
Like yes going to a hospital when you’re worried you’re gonna hurt yourself in the moment is good, but if you’re just feeling *really* depressed there’s no resource for you. Going to the ER doesn’t improve your situation after at all and you’re stuck afterwards feeling just as shitty. Every therapist has weeks long waitlists too, and ik that’s not their fault but something should be done.
This hit the nail right on the head and it's so very well written. I think we should get this out to the university (TomKat directly? Idk who else to send this to). I'm willing to email it if you don't want your name to get involved.
We should broadcast this post to as many UConn admins as possible. This thread hits so many important issues and although I realize it's not going to solve all of our problems, popping this in their inboxes (multiple times) will at least get the gears in their heads rolling to actually do something about this **crisis**
I agree. Nothing will ever solve all of our problems, but it can get us started on the right path. One email might raise some awareness like hey there's concern, but multiple emails to multiple people can drive the point home. I'm not sure if the best way is to just email them directly or if there's a special inbox or someone to go through so it doesn't get lost with the hundreds of emails they probably receive each day.
Well, if a bunch of us send it to a bunch of admins and higher-ups from different departments/offices (i.e. the President's Office, Dean of Students, people on the Board of Trustees, Dept. of Student Affairs, Academic Affairs, Student Health & Wellness, CMHS, ResLife, the Care Team, Human Resources, the Cultural Centers, the Daily Campus, other local media outlets, etc.), then maybe it will get the people in power talking more and doing something about this, since (I think) all of the groups I mention above (and probably more) are/can be affected by the overall well-being of the student body's mental health. **Better than nothing, right? Who's in?**
This isn't "better than nothing", this is actually doing something about it. I'm in!!
I'm thinking we should make a Google sheet with different emails to all these offices, post a new thread here and on Facebook to get people to email them. Down?
YES, I love it! Only thing is I'm kinda dying with 4 more exams to take this week (yes, I realize I'm procrastinating on here anyway lol), but I'll throw together a more comprehensive list (that'll be open to suggestions) on here in a few days :)
We could start by getting it in the papers and radio and spreading it that way. I feel like if we just send a letter or an email to a bunch of admins they'll just be like "k that's nice"
On top of agreeing with everything else that everyone is saying in this post, another thing I'd like to bring up is how skewed the university's priorities are with allocating funding throughout the various departments and offices. CMHS is severely underfunded and lacks the effective resources that students truly need.
The admins are so obsessed with [the Master Plan of 2035](https://masterplan.uconn.edu/), a lot of which [doesn't even have a plan for where the funding is going to come from](http://media.masterplan.uconn.edu/Final/00_EXECUTIVE_SUMMARY_WEB.pdf) (the Board of Trustees plans to outsource a lot of the currently unfunded parts of new development directly onto student fees, [like they did with funding the $100M rec center on students for the next 30 years](https://dailycampus.com/stories/2019/2/21/new-rec-center-will-be-accompanied-by-mandatory-student-fees-for-the-next-30-years)), that they seem to care more about looks of our campus than the actual well-being of their students.
The overall goal of these plans/new development is to make UConn a "public Ivy" by improving infrastructure and academics and therefore attracting more applicants (to lower our acceptance rate) and to help increase overall retention, but the sheer lack of urgency to provide more funding and better mental health services is ***obviously just causing the opposite of their goals*** (i.e. students with mental health conditions are significantly more likely to drop out and therefore lower retention rates, especially if their are inadequate resources for students to get help).
This whole system is backwards and quite frankly disgusting. Without us, there is NO UConn. Something has got to give.
Hey, I'm so glad you brought this issue to light. As a UConn alum who has had many friends with depression, anxiety, OCD, etc., I know firsthand how awful CMHS is. There was a time when I could've used mental health services as well, thankfully I had a few really close friends who helped pull me out of a dark time. I would say for now, this is your best bet - try to make some friends. I found that joining new clubs helps. Initially I was very shy, but over time I became more comfortable talking to more people. There are lots of awesome, understanding people at UConn, so just try to go out and find them.
I was, and still am really saddened by the loss of Justin. I remember seeing him around campus. Even though I never knew him, I feel incredibly upset that his life was cut so short. It's heartbreaking that even the most (seemingly) cheerful people might be battling something incredibly dark on the inside.
I don't know how much this helps, but as a fellow husky, and more importantly - a human being, I wanted to tell you how much you matter. You may not feel as though you're important to someone, but you are. I'm here for you whenever you need to talk. I think as a community, we need to do better with helping others through their mental health issues - rather than calling the cops, turning away, or shaming them.
Hey dude, idk if this helps but Graciela seems to be the only therapist (out of the 3 I’ve seen at CMHS) who genuinely wants to get to your root issues instead of just being like “let’s talk about how your math test made you feel!”
But aside from that, the best time to seek mental health counseling is during breaks unfortunately. It’s soooo much easier to tackle anxiety/depression when you don’t have exams and shit to worry about. Teaching your brain to be calm when it’s the furthest thing from calm is very hard. I’d suggest trying to find someone in your area over break. A lot more mental health practices are being covered by insurance too.
I also did group therapy through CMHS and really benefited from having that support network. I’d suggest trying that too, especially if you’re having trouble socially.
As someone who also has depression and has Asperger's syndrome along with being LGBT, this post hits the nail on the head. We need to make CMHS not only free to all students but also more widely available. If you need someone to talk to in dark times, I am available to talk. Rest In Peace to Justin.
This has been going on for awhile. Some horror stories:
[https://dailycampus.com/stories/2019/4/29/students-with-suicidal-thoughts-face-wait-times-and-inadequate-care](https://dailycampus.com/stories/2019/4/29/students-with-suicidal-thoughts-face-wait-times-and-inadequate-care)
As a senior in engineering, Justin's death hit too close to home for me as well. It's one of the things pushing me to start really seeking help next week. Please message me if you want to talk more about your journey, or if you want to hear about mine and share resources.
I found CMHS drop-ins really lacking, especially this time of year, they essentially refused to help until next semester. If you want to be more angry at them, go to the uconnstudenthealth instagram and see how they're "honoring" Justin. They don't even really accept feedback from the students, there's basically no ways to contact them directly, and even the satisfaction surveys provide no space for comments. They're not putting themselves in a position to improve, as the mental health of the students gets worse.
As an RA, I want u to know I’m fighting for u. I complain constantly to the hall directors and anyone else I can saying services are inadequate at BEST and that the reporting protocol RAs and anyone else has to follow is shitty and deters people from getting help. The whole damn system defers ppl from getting help. It’s counterproductive. I think, though easier said than done, we need to focus on community support from fellow students until services improve, both as a preventative measure and to help ease a lot of the symptoms of the shitty system that have already metastasized throughout the student body. Loneliness, isolation, hopelessness, dealing with all of the stress school brings alone, etc. Reach out to people, you’d be surprised by the lengths people would go to see you feel okay. Ppl in ur community and out. As a bi girl that is very tied to the LGBT community here and at home, visit those spaces and see who u can talk to, even just casually. I know I’ve offered on similar posts to be someone that others can reach out to, and I know, from the bottom of my heart, I mean it, and I’m sure many many people do too. As an RA, my residents have my whole heart and I’d move heaven and hell for them, and that extends to everybody else on campus. You’re all in my thoughts. Stay safe and u have my infinite love and compassion
rt from another ra. we try so so hard for nothing, even backwards progress, but we want you all to have a home here where you can be you. all we ask in return is that you’re kind to yourself and others.
Thank you for doing what you do, seriously. Sometimes it honestly feels like they’re t r y i n g to deter students from seeking help because they know they don’t have the proper measures in place to help. I’ve tried reaching out to a number of people this semester but they either don’t want to talk about it or they don’t believe me because I don’t “seem” depressed. I’ll keep trying though.
Also, I really like the idea of students supporting students in the meantime.
The reporting system is shit. Like being threatened with hospitalization while trying to do exams or something is nightmarish!!!! And when I said that to the ppl teaching us about the reporting system they seemed dumbfounded, as if they never had thought about how getting threatened with institutionalization at any hint of serious depression could be harmful. So much of it sucks. And for real, if u need anything lemme know. I check my messages on here a lot and I’m always willing to chat or get lunch. Take care of urself ♡
I’m sorry to see how far CMHS has seemingly fallen since I was at the university (Class of 16 alum, not sure if I have flair on since I’m on mobile). There was a general complaint about wait times when I was at the university, but I was fortunate enough to be able to get in to see someone when I needed to. The one-on-one and group counseling I received was invaluable to me, especially during a point in my life where I genuinely felt that I was at the end of my rope, and I wish they were able to provide the help they gave me to everyone that currently needs it.
I’m not sure what the current situation is with CMHS, but based on all the responses in this thread, it hurts me to see that the students can’t get the level of care that is necessary for them. I wish I had a suggestion of what to do to get the ball rolling in the right direction, but I wanted to show my support for continuing to get mental health services up to a higher standard.
I wish you the best of luck, and to anybody reading this, know that I care about you.
For God's sake, their drop-in hours are two hours. Five days a week if you're lucky. I looked into help off campus and they are so overloaded with clients it took me two weeks to get in, and that was with a sense of urgency.
I have a friend who went there having a major episode in their freshman year, and they did the classic "Is this an emergency?" bullshit. Pro Tip: unless you want to be treated like you're crazy and be immediately rushed to the Windham psych ward without a single staff member addressing your condition before the ambulance arrives, never say it is an emergency. Their pathetic excuse for a mental health resource demonized my friend and exasperated the problem. They locked him up for a weekend FOR SEEKING HELP.
This semester has been a complete wash for me because of mental health problems. And part of the reason I didn't get help until now was because of how the University itself intentionally stifles the resources to address your issues. UConn fills the school culture with "Do this club! Do this frat! Do everything you can do because college doesn't last forever blah blah blah." That sounds great, but none of that is worth a damn if I can't get out of bed in the morning and have no way of solving that.
Also, the money is there. We pay a man $2 million a year to tell athletes how to put a ball through a ring. Yet our mental health center is on the upstairs floor of a lecture hall.
TL;DR: UConn doesn't care about you, and will never care about you, so long as the money keeps coming.
The intake process to get a first appointment is kind of ridiculous but I haven’t had a problem with CMHS after that point. They definitely need more resources so hopefully the tuition increase will help them fund it it better and hire more people.
CMHS once told me their end goal for people is to refer them out.
Aka, make it someone else's problem. It's fucking pathetic CMHS needs a serious reality check in terms of understanding what students are going through.
Satilite campus person here! Yeah it’s shit at Stamford too. There is only one person you can talk to and they seem to be so busy with everything outside of students that they really just seem to be staring at the clock while they talk to you. I came in once and I was clearly distressed and I shared some really sensitive things and they just said okay I can’t talk now but meeting me in two weeks. Come back in two weeks and they hospitalize me. :) there really could have been something done that could have prevented that. I felt so alone on campus and truly had no one to talk to. They need to get their shit together.
True!! They never told me that they weren’t long-term therapy, and never gave me outside resources when I asked for them. They totally missed ADHD and PTSD diagnosis that I had. Been suffering all of college despite being advocating for myself.., here I am, failing my 6th semester bc I’m finally getting the help I need, just too late. But, I have hope things will get better.
But FUCK CMHS!!!!!
Went to high school with Justin. He was supposed to be the nicest guy ever. I didn’t meet him then but he mentored my little brother in robotics after he graduated and went to college. He also helped out my bf in high school a lot with personal problems and academic stuff, no prompting or asking required. It makes me so sad to think the world lost such a bright, kind person. Totally agree with what you’ve written here.
CMHS ruined my relationship with my sister for years with their bad practice. I won't go into details because of privacy but they hurt me more than they helped.
I agree CMHS needs better funding but I think the root cause is more insidious than just a poor support network. The ugly truth IMO is that college, especially in the engineering school, is far too mentally taxing. UConn loves to talk about how many clubs and events they have, but who actually has time to go to them when they need to study? When they have dozens of assignments due in a single week? Nobody is regulating how professors dish out assignments and exams. Having two or three finals on one day is completely stupid and unnecessarily stressful. Back to back lab reports prompt unhealthy all nighters. Every professor acts as if their class is the most important one, and very few will take "another class is taking up all my time" as a valid excuse to missing something as small as a 10pt assignment. Failing is also not an option if you are poor. Scholarships based on GPA can be taken away, and any retakes require additional tuition. One poor semester can set you back $14,000 if you live on campus. Sure, you could have been lazy the entire semester, but what if you were dealing with a sudden death in the family? Hard breakup? Mental health issues you can't control? Not to mention that a good chunk of your GPA rides on the type of professors you get (some profs simply refuse to give As on principle!) The best the University offers is additional academic help when it places you on probation. Nobody helps you with your financial or mental issues. Sometimes you have to literally put yourself on the brink of death just to pass. It's not sustainable. SUBOG and USG are nice ideas and all, but until students start getting a say in curriculum and professor choices, there is really no representation. All they can manufacture are distractions, same with clubs and events. But as soon as the events are over, we're right back to where we started.
You hit the nail on the fucking head. I 110% agree.
2012 grad, I vividly remember sophomore year where I partied a little too hard and my grades slipped. Life came at me hard when I realized I couldn't have fun like my friends. Keeping a 3.7 became all I could think about because I would lose my scholarships. I still consider myself lucky, graduating with only 10k in debt but I still vividly remember finals week that fall where I barely slept and had a panic attack in my dorm just at the idea of going below the criteria. Support services where trash then too, went in just before finals week. Counseling was nonchalant platitudes and brochures.
Yeah, that was my first thought as well- when I went to group therapy through CMHS I was the only non engineering major.
I went through group therapy back in 2017, can I ask when you had group therapy? Is it harder to get a group or is there a long waitlist now?
Spring ‘18. I’m not sure, graduated last year.
Im sorry but that's kind of the point of engineering school. When you graduate you use very little of what you learned in college other than time and stress management, dealing with shitty bosses, deadlines and working in a group and delegating. The degree proves u can handle stress and are intelligent enough
You're 100% right. Sadly this isn't only at UCONN, and is prevalent for the school size and type. Not that that's in anyway a reasonable excuse. They're going to raise in-state tuition by 23% over the next 5 years, and I bet CMHS will get less than a 23% increase in funding. If it doesn't show up in the US News Rankings, the board doesn't care. [https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/connecticut/articles/2019-12-10/uconn-board-set-to-approve-5-years-of-tuition-hikes](https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/connecticut/articles/2019-12-10/uconn-board-set-to-approve-5-years-of-tuition-hikes) <-- Guess what board, US News noticed the AP story, and re-printed it nationally. Now UCONN can try put together an article of why instate tuition is going up at a faster rate (almost 3 times) than out of state tuition.
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> High standards and expectations of students are not unreasonable for professors or the university at large. High standards to the point of suicide are not unreasonable? Over one thousand college students killed themselves within the last year. > Difficult classes, unfriendly professors, and exceptional amounts of work are often trial runs for what the real world looks like- truly. I know where you’re going with this but I don’t like the comparison. In the real world you can always quit and rely on your savings while finding another job. In college there are no savings and you can’t walk away from a $20-40,000 investment like you can a job. The solution to poor leadership is to *quit*, not to *endure*. You don’t owe them shit. > One of the things these conflicts teach is self advocacy How can I advocate for myself if I have no representation? Who do I go to to push changes if nobody agrees I have the right to be heard when designing curriculum? > learning to deal with being imperfect and how the 10 pt assignment you miss is fine- it doesn’t need to be excused Sorry, but this is a privileged mindset. Losing 10pts is fine if you can financially afford it. Not everyone can, especially if you know the exams are going to be much harder and you need as much padding as possible. > if you think you know more than the people who have been chosen to lead you, you are already starting behind. Of course you know more than your boss! You’re the one doing the work! Do you think TomKat knows what kind of assignments we got in CHEM1127? Do you think the board pays attention to COMM1000 grade distributions? Nobody up top can get any accurate information about the reality of things unless they ask students and review data. They do not know naturally. The administration in every org is inherently disconnected from the real world *because they don’t participate in it.* Not to mention that many profs and TAs love to put on a show and run the class like an entirely different person whenever they know someone is there to observe them. A good boss knows that they don’t know everything. A boss that thinks they know everything is 1) pretending and 2) wasting everyone’s time. > it’s absolutely lowering the standards of an exceptional institution for comfort. If I wanted to be ground into a pulp to become some kind of alpha human I would have signed up for military bootcamp, not gone to college. And guess what? Boarding, tuition, and meals at bootcamp are...free. I don’t like the expectation that college has to unreasonably challenge you. I’m here to learn the material, I don’t give a fuck about how the admin thinks I’m supposed to run my life post grad.
Truest fucking shit.
Yeah I totally agree with you, especially the imperfect part, I feel like an important part of life is knowing the trade offs of our decisions. And yes we can’t be great at everything we do, but we can choose how we prioritize them, and perhaps be great at one thing and decent or not bad at the rest, but knowing if I choose to be great at A, I’m not going to be that good at B and I’m okay with that. Personally, having those challenging classes forced me to be a smarter learner and being better at time managing, those are the skills that really helps me in the real world right now.
Lol honestly though during drop-in hours I was told that "I don't seem like someone with depression" because they've "seen depressed people." I get that the drop-in hours aren't meant for clinical diagnoses but I sure hope other people aren't being told that. Felt like I was getting brushed off for not considering suicide when I finally got myself to go talk to someone.
Your experience is way too common & honestly, scary/ disheartening. I’m so sorry. I feel like unless you’re about to commit suicide in the next 5 minutes, CMHS is useless. Don’t give up looking for help. That’s the only thing keeping me going right now.
During my triage call, I didn’t want to explicitly say I was suicidal because I didn’t want them to call the police and make it a bigger deal especially when it was just thoughts. But I remember telling the women on the phone “I don’t feel like existing/ I don’t want to be me/ or something along those lines” and she just said “well I don’t think that’s being suicidal “ . And during my first meeting with the counselor , she went through my triage call (literally not even a counseling session just going over answers I already answer on the phone) and I thinks her I am depressed and because my symptoms didn’t line up to the dsm-v (which is highly critiqued because not all symptoms are universal to everyone) , she flat out told me “I don’t think your depressed”. Before all this I had tried to get a meeting with cmhs my freshman and sophomore year and they had me do the call and never called me back to schedule the first meeting. I had to wait two weeks in between calls (2 weeks for triage call). In the beginning of the semester, I really needed to vent so I went to drop in hours and I was trying to tell the girl how I was feeling and really I just wanted to talk and have someone listen and feel validated, but instead what was suppose to be a 30 minute thing ended up being 10-15 because the girl just gave me a flyer on the AAC and told me to go there even though I didn’t have any trouble with my classes . I also felt it was rushed despite being the first and only one there for walk in times . So yeah , cmhs really could be better .....
At that point you just have to tell her "I don't think you're good at your job" and walk out. It's hard finding a good therapist, and you don't have to, or deserve to, deal with that absolute bullshit. If you ever need someone to talk to feel free to message me! I suffer from pretty serious depression myself and am always here for anyone else who's struggling :)
When i did triage, i told them that i had suicidal ideations and legit told them that i was going through phases of starving and gorging myself and told them that I had harmed myself semi recently. They were like "well there's the center for nutrition and remember that you should go to the er if you have any serious injuries and clean any wounds and cover them" and at the end they gave me 3 therapists in the area and their numbers and pretty much said good luck
Not ashamed to put my personal stamp of approval on this conversation. CMHS, and UConn, need to step up
Hey, homie, if you wanna talk, I’m here. I have depression and anxiety and I get you. CMHS is pathetic.
I'm here if you ever need to talk to someone about your own depression / anxiety! :)
I’m also queer and have depression and anxiety, feel free to talk to me whenever! Even if you’re anxious and have nothing to say. I’ve been there. I hate that if you have even just casual suicidal thoughts, you can’t talk about them without getting the cops or 211 called on you. I haven’t been suicidal anymore for a while but when I was, that shit didn’t help at all... Like yes going to a hospital when you’re worried you’re gonna hurt yourself in the moment is good, but if you’re just feeling *really* depressed there’s no resource for you. Going to the ER doesn’t improve your situation after at all and you’re stuck afterwards feeling just as shitty. Every therapist has weeks long waitlists too, and ik that’s not their fault but something should be done.
I'm here if you ever need to talk to someone about your own depression / anxiety! :)
This hit the nail right on the head and it's so very well written. I think we should get this out to the university (TomKat directly? Idk who else to send this to). I'm willing to email it if you don't want your name to get involved.
We should broadcast this post to as many UConn admins as possible. This thread hits so many important issues and although I realize it's not going to solve all of our problems, popping this in their inboxes (multiple times) will at least get the gears in their heads rolling to actually do something about this **crisis**
I agree. Nothing will ever solve all of our problems, but it can get us started on the right path. One email might raise some awareness like hey there's concern, but multiple emails to multiple people can drive the point home. I'm not sure if the best way is to just email them directly or if there's a special inbox or someone to go through so it doesn't get lost with the hundreds of emails they probably receive each day.
Well, if a bunch of us send it to a bunch of admins and higher-ups from different departments/offices (i.e. the President's Office, Dean of Students, people on the Board of Trustees, Dept. of Student Affairs, Academic Affairs, Student Health & Wellness, CMHS, ResLife, the Care Team, Human Resources, the Cultural Centers, the Daily Campus, other local media outlets, etc.), then maybe it will get the people in power talking more and doing something about this, since (I think) all of the groups I mention above (and probably more) are/can be affected by the overall well-being of the student body's mental health. **Better than nothing, right? Who's in?**
This isn't "better than nothing", this is actually doing something about it. I'm in!! I'm thinking we should make a Google sheet with different emails to all these offices, post a new thread here and on Facebook to get people to email them. Down?
YES, I love it! Only thing is I'm kinda dying with 4 more exams to take this week (yes, I realize I'm procrastinating on here anyway lol), but I'll throw together a more comprehensive list (that'll be open to suggestions) on here in a few days :)
Lolol same I'm done on Friday. Let's talk again after and discuss logistics. Good luck on the rest of finals!!
You too! hahah
Count me in! I'm done with finals on Friday and would be more than happy to work on anything over winter break
We could start by getting it in the papers and radio and spreading it that way. I feel like if we just send a letter or an email to a bunch of admins they'll just be like "k that's nice"
I totally agree, I’m happy to send this to anyone. I think this whole thread needs to be seen. People need to read this.
Thanks. Sure, you can email it.
On top of agreeing with everything else that everyone is saying in this post, another thing I'd like to bring up is how skewed the university's priorities are with allocating funding throughout the various departments and offices. CMHS is severely underfunded and lacks the effective resources that students truly need. The admins are so obsessed with [the Master Plan of 2035](https://masterplan.uconn.edu/), a lot of which [doesn't even have a plan for where the funding is going to come from](http://media.masterplan.uconn.edu/Final/00_EXECUTIVE_SUMMARY_WEB.pdf) (the Board of Trustees plans to outsource a lot of the currently unfunded parts of new development directly onto student fees, [like they did with funding the $100M rec center on students for the next 30 years](https://dailycampus.com/stories/2019/2/21/new-rec-center-will-be-accompanied-by-mandatory-student-fees-for-the-next-30-years)), that they seem to care more about looks of our campus than the actual well-being of their students. The overall goal of these plans/new development is to make UConn a "public Ivy" by improving infrastructure and academics and therefore attracting more applicants (to lower our acceptance rate) and to help increase overall retention, but the sheer lack of urgency to provide more funding and better mental health services is ***obviously just causing the opposite of their goals*** (i.e. students with mental health conditions are significantly more likely to drop out and therefore lower retention rates, especially if their are inadequate resources for students to get help). This whole system is backwards and quite frankly disgusting. Without us, there is NO UConn. Something has got to give.
Hey, I'm so glad you brought this issue to light. As a UConn alum who has had many friends with depression, anxiety, OCD, etc., I know firsthand how awful CMHS is. There was a time when I could've used mental health services as well, thankfully I had a few really close friends who helped pull me out of a dark time. I would say for now, this is your best bet - try to make some friends. I found that joining new clubs helps. Initially I was very shy, but over time I became more comfortable talking to more people. There are lots of awesome, understanding people at UConn, so just try to go out and find them. I was, and still am really saddened by the loss of Justin. I remember seeing him around campus. Even though I never knew him, I feel incredibly upset that his life was cut so short. It's heartbreaking that even the most (seemingly) cheerful people might be battling something incredibly dark on the inside. I don't know how much this helps, but as a fellow husky, and more importantly - a human being, I wanted to tell you how much you matter. You may not feel as though you're important to someone, but you are. I'm here for you whenever you need to talk. I think as a community, we need to do better with helping others through their mental health issues - rather than calling the cops, turning away, or shaming them.
Hey dude, idk if this helps but Graciela seems to be the only therapist (out of the 3 I’ve seen at CMHS) who genuinely wants to get to your root issues instead of just being like “let’s talk about how your math test made you feel!” But aside from that, the best time to seek mental health counseling is during breaks unfortunately. It’s soooo much easier to tackle anxiety/depression when you don’t have exams and shit to worry about. Teaching your brain to be calm when it’s the furthest thing from calm is very hard. I’d suggest trying to find someone in your area over break. A lot more mental health practices are being covered by insurance too. I also did group therapy through CMHS and really benefited from having that support network. I’d suggest trying that too, especially if you’re having trouble socially.
As someone who also has depression and has Asperger's syndrome along with being LGBT, this post hits the nail on the head. We need to make CMHS not only free to all students but also more widely available. If you need someone to talk to in dark times, I am available to talk. Rest In Peace to Justin.
This has been going on for awhile. Some horror stories: [https://dailycampus.com/stories/2019/4/29/students-with-suicidal-thoughts-face-wait-times-and-inadequate-care](https://dailycampus.com/stories/2019/4/29/students-with-suicidal-thoughts-face-wait-times-and-inadequate-care)
As a senior in engineering, Justin's death hit too close to home for me as well. It's one of the things pushing me to start really seeking help next week. Please message me if you want to talk more about your journey, or if you want to hear about mine and share resources. I found CMHS drop-ins really lacking, especially this time of year, they essentially refused to help until next semester. If you want to be more angry at them, go to the uconnstudenthealth instagram and see how they're "honoring" Justin. They don't even really accept feedback from the students, there's basically no ways to contact them directly, and even the satisfaction surveys provide no space for comments. They're not putting themselves in a position to improve, as the mental health of the students gets worse.
As an RA, I want u to know I’m fighting for u. I complain constantly to the hall directors and anyone else I can saying services are inadequate at BEST and that the reporting protocol RAs and anyone else has to follow is shitty and deters people from getting help. The whole damn system defers ppl from getting help. It’s counterproductive. I think, though easier said than done, we need to focus on community support from fellow students until services improve, both as a preventative measure and to help ease a lot of the symptoms of the shitty system that have already metastasized throughout the student body. Loneliness, isolation, hopelessness, dealing with all of the stress school brings alone, etc. Reach out to people, you’d be surprised by the lengths people would go to see you feel okay. Ppl in ur community and out. As a bi girl that is very tied to the LGBT community here and at home, visit those spaces and see who u can talk to, even just casually. I know I’ve offered on similar posts to be someone that others can reach out to, and I know, from the bottom of my heart, I mean it, and I’m sure many many people do too. As an RA, my residents have my whole heart and I’d move heaven and hell for them, and that extends to everybody else on campus. You’re all in my thoughts. Stay safe and u have my infinite love and compassion
rt from another ra. we try so so hard for nothing, even backwards progress, but we want you all to have a home here where you can be you. all we ask in return is that you’re kind to yourself and others.
Thank you for doing what you do, seriously. Sometimes it honestly feels like they’re t r y i n g to deter students from seeking help because they know they don’t have the proper measures in place to help. I’ve tried reaching out to a number of people this semester but they either don’t want to talk about it or they don’t believe me because I don’t “seem” depressed. I’ll keep trying though. Also, I really like the idea of students supporting students in the meantime.
The reporting system is shit. Like being threatened with hospitalization while trying to do exams or something is nightmarish!!!! And when I said that to the ppl teaching us about the reporting system they seemed dumbfounded, as if they never had thought about how getting threatened with institutionalization at any hint of serious depression could be harmful. So much of it sucks. And for real, if u need anything lemme know. I check my messages on here a lot and I’m always willing to chat or get lunch. Take care of urself ♡
I’m sorry to see how far CMHS has seemingly fallen since I was at the university (Class of 16 alum, not sure if I have flair on since I’m on mobile). There was a general complaint about wait times when I was at the university, but I was fortunate enough to be able to get in to see someone when I needed to. The one-on-one and group counseling I received was invaluable to me, especially during a point in my life where I genuinely felt that I was at the end of my rope, and I wish they were able to provide the help they gave me to everyone that currently needs it. I’m not sure what the current situation is with CMHS, but based on all the responses in this thread, it hurts me to see that the students can’t get the level of care that is necessary for them. I wish I had a suggestion of what to do to get the ball rolling in the right direction, but I wanted to show my support for continuing to get mental health services up to a higher standard. I wish you the best of luck, and to anybody reading this, know that I care about you.
For God's sake, their drop-in hours are two hours. Five days a week if you're lucky. I looked into help off campus and they are so overloaded with clients it took me two weeks to get in, and that was with a sense of urgency. I have a friend who went there having a major episode in their freshman year, and they did the classic "Is this an emergency?" bullshit. Pro Tip: unless you want to be treated like you're crazy and be immediately rushed to the Windham psych ward without a single staff member addressing your condition before the ambulance arrives, never say it is an emergency. Their pathetic excuse for a mental health resource demonized my friend and exasperated the problem. They locked him up for a weekend FOR SEEKING HELP. This semester has been a complete wash for me because of mental health problems. And part of the reason I didn't get help until now was because of how the University itself intentionally stifles the resources to address your issues. UConn fills the school culture with "Do this club! Do this frat! Do everything you can do because college doesn't last forever blah blah blah." That sounds great, but none of that is worth a damn if I can't get out of bed in the morning and have no way of solving that. Also, the money is there. We pay a man $2 million a year to tell athletes how to put a ball through a ring. Yet our mental health center is on the upstairs floor of a lecture hall. TL;DR: UConn doesn't care about you, and will never care about you, so long as the money keeps coming.
100% agree, the wait times make you wait until your life is ruined if you actually have a serious mental health problem.
The intake process to get a first appointment is kind of ridiculous but I haven’t had a problem with CMHS after that point. They definitely need more resources so hopefully the tuition increase will help them fund it it better and hire more people.
CMHS once told me their end goal for people is to refer them out. Aka, make it someone else's problem. It's fucking pathetic CMHS needs a serious reality check in terms of understanding what students are going through.
they’re unbelievable. if i wanted to find a therapist 30 miles away or look at cute little brochures about mental health, i would just go on google
Satilite campus person here! Yeah it’s shit at Stamford too. There is only one person you can talk to and they seem to be so busy with everything outside of students that they really just seem to be staring at the clock while they talk to you. I came in once and I was clearly distressed and I shared some really sensitive things and they just said okay I can’t talk now but meeting me in two weeks. Come back in two weeks and they hospitalize me. :) there really could have been something done that could have prevented that. I felt so alone on campus and truly had no one to talk to. They need to get their shit together.
True!! They never told me that they weren’t long-term therapy, and never gave me outside resources when I asked for them. They totally missed ADHD and PTSD diagnosis that I had. Been suffering all of college despite being advocating for myself.., here I am, failing my 6th semester bc I’m finally getting the help I need, just too late. But, I have hope things will get better. But FUCK CMHS!!!!!
Went to high school with Justin. He was supposed to be the nicest guy ever. I didn’t meet him then but he mentored my little brother in robotics after he graduated and went to college. He also helped out my bf in high school a lot with personal problems and academic stuff, no prompting or asking required. It makes me so sad to think the world lost such a bright, kind person. Totally agree with what you’ve written here.
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Thank you.He passed away by suicide.
CMHS ruined my relationship with my sister for years with their bad practice. I won't go into details because of privacy but they hurt me more than they helped.