By Marline Esquivel and Kailee Santiago
Students in the College of Environmental Design spearheaded a call of action to obtain better and more accessible mental health services.
The students wrote letters and attended town hall meetings and met with the newly instated college of environmental design Dean Mary Anne Akers. They expressed difficulties accessing student services in two ways, time and proximity of location. The ENV courses are normally four hours long and the ENV building is up on the hill in opposite directions of the Care Center. In response, Akers began assembling a team to make the students’ request a reality, resulting in the ENV college receiving an onsite therapist.
Akers also referred to Cal Poly Pomona’s student data conducted before becoming dean. A survey provided by Counseling and Psychological Services to the ENV students about their mental health showed 93% of ENV students experience anxiety, 87% feel overwhelmed, 77% have difficulty in achieving work/school/life balance and 48% have difficulty with sleep.
Data for the new program will be released in December at the end of the fall semester, according to Interim Associate Vice President of Student Well-being and Support Hallie Lewis. The data will include input from students who utilize the new program.
For a whole year, Akers collaborated with Student Affairs and CAPS to brainstorm ways to bring these resources to the students. They met with stakeholders and played with the budget with the goal of providing quality onsite mental health and wellness accessibility for ENV students.
Akers made students’ safety her first priority while she was brainstorming ideas. She questioned whether students would feel safe in the new program.
“How do we make sure that the students feel like this is a safe space, that they feel like it’s a safe space to learn and not feel like a (target)?” said Akers.
The Wellness Collaboration will have staff from the Care Center and CAPS in Building 7 to meet with students seeking wellness and mental health support. Students no longer have to seek help in different locations.
“The department I think is wonderful, that there’s something for students to tap into and let ourselves be heard,” said environmental design student Marvin Alexander.
Aker acknowledged the stress students face during midterm and finals season, as they have their projects critiqued by professional landscape architects and, on top of that, maintain classes that last up to four hours.
The wellness program is not just for ENV students. It is provided for ENV to make it more accessible for the students there, but CPP students are welcome to seek support and check out the upcoming wellness classes.
CAPS clinician Dr. Gently Ang will be available Mondays and Thursdays from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Care Center case manager Jennifer Wheeler will be available Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in building 7. Walk-ins and appointments are available to make through the CPP mobile app.
A variety of workshops are also available. Akers suggested topics, like how to deal with anxiety and stress, mindfulness and imposter syndrome. A schedule for these and other workshops will be released later, no dates are finalized yet.
In the first two weeks of launching the initiative, Akers and the team noticed a low number of counseling appointment bookings. Akers began reaching out to students reminding them of the resources available to them but found out the online application was not working. The error was rectified, and soon after, a rise in appointment bookings was reported.
According to the university’s California Faculty Association Union chapter, CPP is servicing 2,900 students per counselor despite the mandated ratio of 1,000-1,500 students per counselor. The Wellness Collaboration is attempting to combat this disparity’s by insuring an onsite counselor for ENV students. The goal is for each college to eventually obtain their own onsite services that will make finding mental health resources and support more accessible to every student.
“Based on what we learn, we will then make it (mental health services) available throughout the campus in other colleges,” said Lewis.
The work does not stop at a wellness center. Akers would like to incorporate a sleeping pod since Akers and other school officials seen a trend of commuter students who have often slept in their cars in between class, during midterms/finals making it unsafe for students.
“We’re hoping to plan more activities,” said Aker, who also pitched the idea for sleeping pods for students to de-stress and nap between their classes and assignments.
Feature Image Courtesy of Kailee Santiago