Its All Too Much

College CampusEmily PierceNAMI Ending The Silence Presenter Mental Health, Wellness & Preventionwww.NAMIWestchester.org

Notes: Students with mental health conditions being knowledgeable about their rights on campus, can aid the student with knowing the right questions to ask and to gaining control of the situation instead of feeling lost and hopeless, where most of these situations spiral out of control.

it is totally reasonable and understandable that a school's position is first and foremost to protect all the students on campus which is becoming more difficult to achieve as evidenced by the latest gun violence on campuses throughout the country in the last five years. Obviously, we can all agree on the fact that there is something terribly wrong with the system and its starts with an constant stream of communication, but there is a delicate balance of not stigmatizing and/or discriminating against a student if he or she speaks up about there thoughts and mental health issues. It also should not be a source of retaliation if a student with mental health issues asserts their rights or advocates for themselves in a peaceful calm manner.1

Mental Health Challenges Students FaceSource: BestColleges.com, Nami.org

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Mental Health StigmaHow it affects the response of college administrators ?

Sources: Ask the Lawyers. College Mental Health After the VA. Tech Shooting is Costing Lives. www.washingtonpost.com

Liability consents, forced withdrawal, request for broad medical documentation, forms that ask intimate questions on mental health, policies which might stop students from asking for help.

HIPPA who does the school have the right to speak with ? Do parents have the right to know if they are paying ? Can hospitals violate HIPPA laws once a patient is discharged and release information to the school ?

Forced or voluntary withdrawal- when is it okay for a college to forcefully tell a student they cant come back to school due to a mental health issue ?

Mental Health Prevention Programs JED Foundation , Active Minds, SAMSHA College Campus Suicide Prevention, NAMI Ending The Silence Presenters

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Liability I felt like what did I do wrong. I have always been a great student. Oppressive Force to Students who have Mental Health issues on College Campuses

Oppressive Force contracts, forms, agreements, documentation, meetings,

My quote over whelmed because I didnt understand the schools reasoning behind what they were doing, discriminated against because every time I looked at the forms it concentrated on mental illness and wasnt generic in nature to address all medical conditions, I felt lost because there was no guidance or anyone to explain anything, administrators kept asking for documentation that was personal but not giving a reason

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HIPAA/FERPA Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Protects Patients Rights to Privacy regarding health related information such as patients rights to access his or her medical information. -->> Health Care Setting

Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act ( FERPA ) Protects the Privacy of Students Education Records, which also includes certain students health records. --->> School SettingWhat is the Difference ?

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HIPPA/FERPAShould Colleges Act on information received from outside professionals if there is no threat to student or others?Consent for information with colleges/ universities & mental health Institutions or relative professionals and families

HIPPA/FERPA- Information received, university acted w/o asking student and forcibly made student withdraw. 6

Forced or Voluntary Withdrawal

OCR Title II Regulation states in order for a school to enforce a forced withdrawal a student must be "a significant risk to the health or safety of others that cannot be eliminated by a modification of policies, practices or procedures, or by the provision of auxiliary aids or services.

Office of Civil Rights Policies

Notes: University enforces mandatory withdrawal without following OCR policy, information received was not accurate, was recently discharged from hospital at time, handed in psychiatrist note that I was evaluated and ready to go back to school, was not a significant risk to the health and safety of others or myself and never displayed any behaviors while in school for school to feel that it would be an issue. 7

Mental Health Prevention ProgramsJED and Clinton Mental Health Matters Programs:The Campus Program is designed to help colleges and universities promote emotional wellbeing and mental health programming, reduce substance abuse, and prevent suicide among their students.Active Minds:By developing and supporting chapters of a student-run mental health awareness, education, and advocacy group on campuses nationwide, the nonprofit organization works to increase students awareness of mental health issues, provide information and resources regarding mental health and mental illness, encourage students to seek help as soon as it is needed, and serve as liaison between students and the mental health community. Sources: www.jedfoundation.org , www.Activeminds.org

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Mental Health Prevention ProgramsNAMI Clubs on College Campus - Peer run mental health organizations on campus. The student led clubs help:Raise Mental Health AwarenessSupport Fellow StudentsEducate the Campus Community Promote and Advocate for Services and support

Sources: www.Nami.org

Half of Us The JED Foundation

Source: www.halfofus.com

A program founded by MTVu and The JED Foundation on Student Mental Health and depression. 10

Mental Health Prevention POLICY, SYSTEMS AND STRATEGIC PLANNING STRATEGIC PLANNING requires the involvement of multiple campus departments/stakeholders (e.g., upper administration, student affairs, security, student groups). Schools should have an interdisciplinary task force or committee that works on campus wide strategy and planning related to emotional health and substance abuse prevention on campus. POLICY ( POLICIES RELATED TO CLINICAL SERVICES ADDRESSED SEPARATELY ) All full time students should have health insurance, for students not covered, school should offer insurance with comprehensive mental health coverage. Schools should have protocols for handling mandatory leaves of absences ,

JED and CLINTON MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS PROGRAM

Strategic Planning- Had my school have had a strategic plan in place with a interdisciplinary task force team on mental health, maybe the administration would have been able to use it as a resource before coming to me without proper knowledge of a situation, fear of liability and violating my civil rights

Policy- My school had no specific mandatory leave of absences policy, it was vague and open for administration to discriminate against people with mental health issues11

Active Minds

About Us Source: www.activeminds.org

Active Minds Provides a space so students with mental health issues know exactly where to go in order to seek help with these issues on college campuses.Active Minds is not a support group but they connect people with common stories, common life experiences that all understand how important these issues are. Alison Malmon Active Minds create dialogues on student advocacy and de-stigmatizing mental illness on college campuses.

Source: www.activeminds.org Mental Health Awareness on College Campuses

Notes: In my experience it is vital to have a safe place for students who have a mental health condition to go and be able to discuss issues with those who they can relate. De-stigmatizing mental health on college campuses and opening up dialogue about mental health will only educate not only students but faculty and administration about what mental health is, how to help someone who has a mental health condition and be able to give resources so they can get the help they need.13

Recommendations for College Administrators and Stakeholders All Colleges/Universities should have one explicit policy for medical/mental health leave of absences, it should be easily accessible for students , families and caretakers. Any medical form a College/ University has a student fill out in relation to leave of absence should be clear and general, not favoring one medical condition. In a case where a College/ University feels that a student warrants involuntary withdrawal there should be a clear explicit policy, which follows the Office of Civil Rights, Department of Education recommendations, policies and or procedures. This should be posted where its accessible for the student, families and caretakers to access. Based upon my Experience as a College Student w/ Mental Illness

Recommendations for College Administration and StakeholdersAll Universities Should be enrolled in a mental health awareness program like The JED and Clinton Health Matters Campus Program or Active Minds . These types of programs should be following up for a minimum amount of five years to monitor, document, research and study what is working in the programs, what isnt, what can be done differently, that the College/University is adhering to the program protocols and most importantly obtaining feedback from students on campus who are involved and not involved to see if additional resources for advertisement, outreach, following program protocol, monitoring, making changes etc can be done . Based upon my experience as a College Student with a Mental Health Condition

SourcesAbout Us : www.ActiveMinds.org Ask The Lawyers. College Mental Health After the VA. Tech Shooting is Costing Lives.: www.washingtonpost.com Danger For Whom ? : www.insidehighered.com For Campus Professionals : www.jedfoundation.org NAMI on Campus : www.NAMI.org The Top 5 Mental Health Challenges Facing College Students: www.bestcolleges.com, www.nami.org

References