Mental Health: What I’ve Learned
By Paul Samaha ‘17
This past Friday, I attended and attentively listened to MINDS MATTER: USC Policy on Student Mental Health, a panel discussion on the topic of mental health and what it means to USC specifically. This event was a part of the USC ZYGO series, which is a student lunchtime panel series on ethics and medicine. What made this particular panel special was the variety of voices heard– from USC Student Body President Rini Sampath, to the Engemann Health Center Medical Director Dr. James Jacobs. As you can imagine, the approaches from each of the six panelist were all very different. But there was one commonality between them all: Mental health matters, and we all need to do more as a Trojan family to improve the mental wellbeing of our student body.
The panel began with Dr. Donald Hilty explaining how USC’s Keck School of Medicine holds mental health to a high standard, and he understands that because each individual patient has different mental health needs, different solutions work for different people. Dr. Hilty spoke about traditional treatments like counseling, medical prescriptions, homeopathic remedies and innovative methods like simultaneous video teleconferencing between patients seeking mental health care and a professional. Dr. Hilty suggests that the U.S. needs to become more innovative in our mental healthcare, as countries that use video teleconferencing have proven to be very effective due to the accessibility and the ability to be matched with a professional counselor or other medical professional that understands your situation– whether that be because they are your same race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, are an expert in sexual abuse, etc.
Photo courtesy of the Daily Trojan
Dr. James Jacobs then spoke about working with USC students directly as the USC Engemann Student Health Center Medical Director. He brought up how the topic of mental health is a tough one for the health center because (according to NAMI) ¼ of college students suffer from some sort of mental illness, and the demand becomes an issue of cost and tuition dollars. He then introduced Dr. Rosenstein, who wasn’t formally on the panel but spoke on behalf of the health center as she leads the counseling center. I asked Dr. Jacobs and Dr. Rosenstein a question regarding the transition period (or lack thereof) between when a student is told they can no longer continue to receive their mental health care at USC and that they must seek local medical professionals on their own regard. I was happy to hear Dr. Jacobs and Dr. Rosenstein respond by saying that the former rules of six free sessions before being transitioned out of the health center have been diminished, and that they are now focusing on specific student’s needs on a case-by-case basis– meaning, they will now decide whether the student can benefit most from a specific professional in the community, or if the student needs to keep their mental health care at USC. Dr. Rosenstein also admitted that the transition of being sent off into the LA community alone looking for health care is not easy for many people, especially international students, and that the health center now understands they need to do a better job of hand-holding during this transitional period– all which made me very happy to hear.
Dean of Religious Life Varun Soni spoke about how the recent highly-publicized event of racism on our campus is not acceptable. In the video above, you can hear how he stresses the importance of using the bias report system so that USC can create a data set of these incidents and so that we can hold our administrators accountable on what the procedures and responses to these incidents will be. Dean Soni has been a great voice against the culture of intolerance on our campus. He stressed how his Office of Religious Life is open to every student– from all major religions to those who are atheist. Dean Soni hosts his own mindfulness classes that are free to all students, which from experience I can say is an amazing practice of finding mental clarity amidst the stresses one may feel in their everyday life.
Dean Soni and President Sampath
Professor Katie Hasson stressed the importance of how one’s socioeconomic class and identity (regarding race, religion, gender, sexuality, physical ability, etc.) is often correlated to the need of mental healthcare. Those from lower socioeconomic classes are unfortunately less likely to go out of the way for help, both due to stigmas in certain communities as well as the lack of resources such as medical insurance for those who cannot afford medical care. The most interesting thing that Professor Hasson spoke upon was the main differences between how males and females deal with illnesses like depression– women often internalize the issues, while men are less likely to admit they need help and instead act out in a “macho” way, which often leads to addictions such as alcoholism. I think that knowledge such as Professor Hasson’s on the intersectionality of gender and mental healthcare is vital information that should be conveyed and understood by all administrators on this campus.
President Sampath and Professor Hasson
USC Student Body President Rini Sampath spoke about how the pressures of 2015′s social media world creates an added level of pressure, leading us to compare ourselves to what appear to be the fabulous lifestyles of our peers. Similarly to Professor Hasson, Sampath highlighted the need for intersectionality to be a part of the conversation. Because Engemann is hidden away on our campus and is often thought of as an extra walk, Sampath touched upon the crucial need for USC to provide counselors in safer spaces like the cultural centers on campus as well as within the residential halls. While so many students have difficult experiences having to explain to their counselor the skin they live in due to their identity, having someone that can relate to these mental health issues that specific cultural communities face would heighten access to effective mental healthcare tremendously. Sampath said that USC Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. Carry is looking into getting counselors into residential halls. I hope that Dr. Carry can continue to look into this issue until it is implemented. Regardless, student government will continue to advocate for the expansion of the cultural centers, adding counselors to the cultural centers and adding counselors to the residential halls, amongst many other goals for the school year.
Finally, Sampath spoke about how important it is that USC has a culture of culture of care, versus a culture of compliance. When speaking on the policies USC has regarding mental health and bias reporting, she poised the question: “How are those procedures being enforced?” This question can only be answered in due time.
