Dan Nadler thinks it has been a challenge to deal with the significant increase in the number of student crises on campus.

Nadler, the vice president for student affairs, said these crisis situations are not only stretching the counseling center’s resources, but are affecting the rest of the student body, as well.

“A serious incident causes a kind of domino effect across the campus,” Nadler said. “Real traumatic experiences affect a student’s network. If someone dies you may not even know them, but you might be affected because your grandma just died and it triggers your emotions.”

The International Association of Counseling Services reports that 85 percent of college counseling centers have seen an increase in the number of students entering school with mental health histories.

Nadler said a situation is considered a crisis if there is immediate danger to a student, if a student is discussing or has attempted suicide, or if a student is in a state where they don’t know what to do.

A counselor needs to be sent to the student immediately when these situations happen, he added.

In an effort to make sure students’ are receiving the services they need, Nadler said a student support team meets every Monday afternoon. The team discusses student behaviors they have noticed that they are concerned with.

Nadler said the weekly meetings allow faculty to get different perspectives on these behaviors and helps faculty identify what students might be at risk.

As for the national trend in the increase of students using counseling centers, Nadler said he has been following the trend for several years.

Nadler has been studying the Freshman Survey, a survey given to over 400,000 college freshmen each year which asks questions about family income, values, beliefs and other student characteristics. The Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California Los Angeles administers the survey.

“More and more students are reporting that they felt frequently overwhelmed, increasingly feeling some sense of depression, an increasing number of students feeling that they were going to need to see a counselor once they were at the institution,” Nadler said. “And certainly an increasing amount of students are arriving at an institution being on prescription medication.”

The increase of students with mental health histories has lead to an increase in demand for services as well.

James DiTulio, director of Western Illinois University’s counseling center, said campus centers across the nation are struggling to keep up with the rise in demand for mental health resources.

“College counseling centers are being stretched to look at priorities and what they can do with limited funds,” DiTulio said. “There are always going to be limited funds though, no matter where you go or what you do.”

In order to provide more resources to students, campus centers have to cut back on the number of preventative programs they offer.

DiTulio said while there are other departments that can offer outreach programs to the campus community, there is only one office that can offer mental health services.

“If we have staff members out giving presentations, then they’re not here seeing students,” he said. “You know, it’s a delicate balance. But we chose wisely the programs we do and where we go.”

Despite the national trend, Nadler said Eastern’s counseling center continues to offer several outreach programs to help educate students. He said these programs are an important part of Eastern’s “proactive approach” to mental health.

Since the 1990s, two new counseling positions have been added at the center. Nadler said these additions have made it possible to keep offering the same number of outreach programs.

Legislators across the nation are taking steps to lower the risk student mental health issues present, too.

According to a February 2008 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, legislators in Virginia have proposed a bill that would require universities to have students sign a waiver that would release their mental health records to the school before they enroll.

Several campus security committees are also considering making it a requirement for students to release their mental health histories to the school.

Nadler said he fears these measures are sending the wrong message to the campus community.

“I think society has come a very long way with regard to reducing some of the stigmas and stereotypes that are associated with certain behaviors, certain conditions,” he said. “I would not want us to regress in that area.”

Sandy Cox, director of the counseling center, could not be reached for comment.

Barbara Harrington can be reached at 581-7942 or at bjharrington@eiu.edu.