Long wait for counseling

Mechanical engineering junior Erick Serrano used the Counseling Services in the Cal Poly Health Center twice as a freshman for personal reasons. He said that waiting times were much shorter when he needed counseling back in 2005.

“Depending on when appointments were available, it took about a day for a complete turnaround,” Serrano said. “It was also during the middle of the quarter when not many people (used it).”

Now, students like Serrano may have to wait up to two or three weeks just to be seen by a professional through Counseling Services.

Serrano thought that counseling was especially needed at this time of year, since this is the last week before finals.

“It’s a time of year (when) people get overwhelmed by different things,” Serrano said. “Before they know it, everything snowballs and then they screw it over.”

Cal Poly has measures in place if a student feels like he or she is at the breaking point, said psychologist Elie Axelroth, the interim head of counseling psychology at the Health Center.

“There are a couple of different ways that students could get counseling here,” she said. “They could call in, or they could stop by and they could say, ‘I’d like to make an appointment,’ and we’ll schedule them with the first available appointment.”

Normally, students can use Counseling Services anytime Mondays through Fridays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

“When we did have some extended hours, students didn’t use the service anymore than they would during the day,” she said.

While the long waits just to see a counselor may be inconvenient for students, Axelroth said there are factors that result in delayed appointment times at the health centers across the entire California State University system.

“The (two- to three-week) waiting time is there because we are understaffed,” Axelroth said. “Everyone in the CSU system, particularly the counseling centers, is feeling a lot of pressure from being understaffed.”

Axelroth cited a finding by the International Association of Counseling Services (IACS), a national accreditation agency for counseling centers, which stated that there should be approximately one counselor for every 1,000 to 1,500 students.

“That’s their standard, but we’ve got five counselors for 18,000 students,” she said. “When we had adequate staff, we could see students within several days of their calling in.”

Axelroth stated that appointments are now made two weeks after the student calls in or stops at the Health Center. While she asserted that most students find that procedure “fine,” she also said that there were emergency procedures in place.

“If we have any indication that a student is in some kind of crisis, emergency, or highly distressed, we have a form that we have them fill out,” Axelroth said. “You meet with them immediately, and we make an assessment of the situation.”

Axelroth said that in Counseling Services, there is a difference between a real emergency and “crisis.” She defined a crisis as “something that happens unexpectedly.”

If the incident occurs on campus, Axelroth felt that the student should come to the Health Center. However, she warned that the center can only stay open for so long to meet student needs, so other resources have been established for anyone who needs help.

“We would expect that they would call the police, call a friend, go to an emergency room, or call hotline. They can also call the crisis team at (San Luis Obispo) county mental health,” Axelroth said.

Student privacy remains a high priority at the Health Center, but there are some exceptions to the rule, Axelroth said. “Our work is confidential under California state law. Anything a student tells us is confidential unless we’re concerned that they might hurt themselves or someone else.”

She noted that under state law, counselors are obligated to report concerns of abuse, especially child abuse. However, Axelroth could not recall when student confidentiality had to be legally broken.

“Unless a student signs a release of information to release information to parents or a faculty member, we can’t violate that,” she said.

Axelroth has seen many students pass through the halls of the Health Center. She noted that anyone can use the Counseling Services.

“We see student leaders, people from fraternities, athletes, students who are depressed, anxious, and students with history of alcohol or substance abuse. We even see students with roommate problems.”

Looking back on his experience, Serrano believed that the counseling helped him cope with his first year in college.

“They do better than what my friends do (in terms of counseling),” Serrano said. “If they didn’t, they would lose their licensing.”

Even though the wait is long now, Serrano expressed delight that the students are using the Health Center for counseling purposes.

“There are great resources, but it kind of sucks that the waitlist is so long,” he said. “It’s kind of a good sign that people utilize it because they actually need it and don’t wait until it’s too late.”