STRUGGLING
in SILENCE:
Suicide on CMU's Campus
Campus Resources
Connecting students to resources
By Paige Sheffield, Grant McPherson, Alex Steele, Evan Sasiela
Deanna Johnson woke up one Saturday morning to find an alarming message in her inbox. The message came in the form of a CARE report, a mechanism that people can use to submit a report when concerned about a Central Michigan University student’s health or wellbeing. The CARE Team typically responds to these reports with emails or phone calls, inviting the student to meet with a CARE Team member. This time, Johnson, the CARE Team Coordinator and a Licensed Mental Health Professional, called 911.
She was worried the student might harm themselves. An officer from the CMU Police Department then did a welfare check, in which he went to where the student lives to check on the student’s safety, then reported the information back to Johnson.
The CARE Team, made up of representatives from departments and offices across campus, meets weekly. When the team receives a report, its members try to determine who would be the best person to reach out to the student. While members of the CARE Team emphasize that CARE reports should not be used for imminent situations, reports that indicate possible imminent risk still sometimes land in the inbox of CARE Team members. Representatives from CMUPD are on the CARE Team as a resource if a report like this comes in.
The CARE Team is CMU’s university-wide mental health effort, said Tony Voisin, Associate Vice President of Student Affairs. The team aims to connect students with the resources they need and intervene early — but the demand for mental health resources on campus is increasing, and the Counseling Center is struggling to meet student demands, there’s only one psychiatrist on campus and the Mount Pleasant community also doesn’t have many psychiatry resources.
If there aren’t appropriate resources for the student in the community, however, the CARE Team will work to find the closest resources that meet the student’s needs, or help the student find resources in their hometown.
“If we have a student in here saying they want resources, we don’t view it as an option,” Johnson said.
Anyone can submit a CARE report on a student. Recently, the CARE Team has seen an increase in overall reports and an increase in reports submitted by faculty. The team was surprised when some students started submitting reports on themselves, Johnson said. Voisin said a report was recently submitted by a student that said, “I don’t know where else to turn. I don’t know where to go.”
When the team receives a report, they decide who would be the best person to reach out. People from various offices across campus sit on the CARE Team because of the wide range of needs students might have – for example, Student Disability Services might be a resource for a student with depression who is struggling in classes because the office coordinates academic accommodations, and Sexual Aggression Peer Advocates might be a valuable resource for someone affected by sexual aggression.
Having a range of people on the team also increases the chances that one of the members will know the student mentioned in a report. If a CARE Team member knows the student, that member will likely be the one to reach out. The outreach can vary depending on the nature of the report, but typically the CARE Team member will send an email or call the student, explaining what the CARE Team is and inviting the student to meet with the CARE Team. Johnson or Andrea Lobert, the CARE Team Counselor in Residence and a licensed social worker, will meet with students who want to talk to the CARE Team.
"We have a good idea of a system that is designed to catch people before they go to far, but there is still so much work to be done. Making the center and the counselors more approachable would help." - Zachary Brown
"I know there are resources available to help students suffering from mental health issues, but they are not the easiest to access. I believe it would be beneficial for the Counseling Center to set up an outreach program to bring people in." - Mike LaViolette
"We need more faculty and simply more individuals who help promote learning tools for people with ongoing mental health issues." - Jameson Debnam
A typical email will say something like, “we’re contacting you to follow up on a referral that the CMU Care Team received about your wellbeing and the impact some life stressors might be having on you and your academics. Sometimes students don’t realize that stressors are impacting their behavior or that others on campus are worried about them. The CMU care team is a group that accept referrals about students that might be struggling, distressed or whom others around campus are concerned about,” Johnson said.
Representatives from the Counseling Center also sit on the team, Johnson said, but play a unique role because they cannot share any information about students they might’ve met with before, but they can still help the CARE team determine what the best response path would be for a student.
The CARE Team follows recommendations from national organizations when determining how often to meet and how to structure the team, Johnson said. CARE Teams on college campuses — also sometimes called Behavioral Intervention Teams — are commonly structured in a similar way to CMU’s CARE Team.
The idea behind CARE reports is “see something, say something” — because the person concerned about a student’s wellbeing likely doesn’t have a background in diagnosing mental health issues or determining what to do, Johnson said.
Providing support to students
Residence Life also emphasizes making reports and getting professionals involved when concerned about a student’s wellbeing. Because of this, Residence Life staff members, such as resident assistants, are trained in active listening that helps them recognize signs and symptoms then make referrals to the Counselors in Residence, who are licensed mental health professionals.
Each residence hall area has a Counselor in Residence that acts as a consultant for Residence Life. The Counselors in Residence provide a training to Residence Life staff, focusing on the common mental health issues they saw the previous years. In recent years, those issues have been anxiety and depression, said Michelle Veith, associate director of Residence Life. Suicide — signs, symptoms and questions to ask if students say something concerning — is always discussed, she said.
“Our RAs and MAs are really good at knowing key things they might hear a student say, to follow up on that, and ask more questions, get more information, or to notice that somebody is struggling,” Veith said.
Because Residence Life staff know demands for mental health resources are on the rise, they’ve thought about what resources they can offer students. When there’s a long waitlist at the Counseling Center, the CIRs might take on clients at their own discretion, Veith said. This year, they also started the Launch Project, a series of sessions led by Counselors in Residence, focusing on topics such as stress management, self-care and coping skills. The most popular Launch Project session this spring had six students attend. The idea for these sessions came after Veith and Johnson attended the Mid-American Conference Mental Health Summit and saw a presentation about a group counseling program that emphasized how not every student needs individual counseling.
The Counseling Center also plans to offer more group services. With seven full-time counselors and a budget of $827,000 that doesn’t fully cover the Counseling Center’s expenses, the Counseling Center cannot continue to operate the way it does currently, Voisin said. Right now, anyone can call and request to schedule a one-on-one appointment with a counselor. There aren’t enough counselors for this, Voisin said.
In November, which is the peak time for students wanting to meet with a counselor at CMU, about 100 students were on a waitlist. Though the waitlist mainly builds up in October and November, Voisin said having that long of waitlist isn’t acceptable. To deal with this, temporary counselors used to be hired, but that’s no longer effective, Voisin said. In his six years in his current position, Voisin has requested more funding for the Counseling Center. He also recently requested additional space for the Counseling Center, which was approved. Group counseling sessions were previously held in a small office space that could hold up to 10 people — now, the Counseling Center has a larger group meeting space.
In attempt to meet with more students and meet rising demands, the Counseling Center will implement triage by next fall, Voisin said. Triage is used to assess students needs and determine what resources might be best for them based on those needs, rather than booking a one-on-one counseling appointment for all students. The Counseling Center will also begin to offer more group counseling sessions. According to the American College Health Association, group counseling is effective and is a good method to consider for universities that are understaffed and have large waitlists.
“This is what universities are having to do because they cannot staff enough people to meet one-on-one with students,” Voisin said. “Does that mean we have specific groups focused on how to develop skills to better handle your anxiety? Yes, that’s exactly what that means. Our intent is to drive more students to other kinds of activities that do not require one-on-one appointments. That doesn’t mean we won’t have them.”
CMU also recently hired another counselor who will start working this summer. Voisin is still hopeful that one or two more will be hired.
Another challenge CMU faces in providing mental health services to students, Voisin said, is the lack of resources in Mount Pleasant. The Counseling Center provides short-term, time-limited care. For students who need more extensive treatment, they are directed to other resources. However, Voisin said it might be easier for some students to go home than it would be to find appropriate resources in Mount Pleasant.
“I think the psychiatry in Mount Pleasant is limited,” Voisin said. “I think you can count on one hand and still have some fingers left.”
"Most people are hours away from home, so CMU becomes a second home for students, and it's CMU's responsibility to help take care of it's students."
Nick Gembarski, Senior
Police response to suicide
CMUPD Lt. Larry Klaus said his department has seen a trend of mental health distress in the last three years.
“We’re seeing a lot of students studying with anxiety and depression,” Klaus said.
Police will receive a report of a suicide attempt either through dispatch, Residence Life or social media, Klaus said.
Once police arrive, Klaus said police determine what the best resource is at the time. If a person has expressed a desire to hurt themselves, they can be taken under protective custody and transported to a local hospital for a mental health evaluation.
Klaus said mental health is a top issue and there has been an increase in anxiety, depression and desire to do self-harm.
With a report of a suicide attempt, Klaus said police will respond first. He said how police deals with the person depends on the type of call.
“If you work in the field long enough, you’re trying to be calm,” Klaus said.
In addition to the CARE Team, Klaus said students can reach out to other alternatives to discuss mental health, including Listening Ear.
“We encourage students, faculty and staff to look out for one another,” Klaus said.
Klaus referred to suicide as a “selfish act.”
“It’s not a satisfactory way to solve issues,” the lieutenant said. “It’s very unfortunate. It’s campuses throughout the country.”
Klaus said the increase in suicide attempts could stem from a more open society, social media, relationships or increased academic rigor — but could not pinpoint why attempts have become more common.
An officer in Lansing for 25 years before coming to CMUPD, Klaus said his niece’s mother committed suicide and said “it’s not cool.” Klaus wants CMUPD to be a resource for those struggling with anxiety and mental health.
“If a student wants to talk, we’re here to talk,” he said.
Aftermath of suicide attempts
Though the Counseling Center sometimes has a waiting list, Voisin said students with urgent needs will always be able to meet with a counselor. In situations where a student shows up at the Counseling Center but might be a danger to themselves, the student would be transported to the hospital.
In residence halls, staff members are trained to look for changes in behavior. In recent years, there has been an increase in mental health related reports and suicide attempts in the residence halls, Veith said.
“Noticing a change in behavior, a change in hygiene, a change in going to class – obviously words, too,” Veith said. “Words matter and we take them seriously. I think students are learning that you can’t do poorly on a test and be like, ‘I’m just going to kill myself.’ We take that seriously because what if you really mean you might kill yourself?”
After a student attempts suicide, that individual is likely at the hospital and getting the treatment they need, Veith said. The attention then turns to other people who might’ve been affected – roommates, friends or other people who live on the same floor. Residence hall directors or RAs will do one-on-one check-ins and ask the students if they need to see a Counselor in Residence.
“It all depends on the severity of the situation, because we also don’t want to blow something up that’s not, and we want to try to respect that person’s privacy too, so it’s a fine line,” Veith said. “You don’t necessarily want to hold a floor meeting because half the floor may not know that so and so tried whatever, but you also don’t want to miss anybody, so a lot of it’s more kind of that one-on-one ‘who do we know? Who was there? Who’s really close to them? Who’s talking about it now?’ type of thing and doing those one on one reach-outs then figuring out what they need to be successful and to work through it because it could be very scary.”
If the student who attempted suicide returns to campus and residence life staff were aware of the attempt, the student will have a follow-up incident assessment with the Counselor in Residence. The incident assessment meetings usually last for about an hour and a half and the counselor talks to the student about what they’re feeling and what resources could support them. After the meeting, the counselor would make recommendations to the student. Residence Life will also determine whether the student will remain in the same residence hall or room. Sometimes the student might want a fresh start in an area of campus where people don’t know what happened, Veith said, or sometimes the roommates might be more comfortable if the individual was moved to another room.
Depending on the severity of the situation, a student who engages in or threatens self-injurious behavior could be removed from campus. The Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities and Disciplinary includes a line about disruptive self-injurious behavior. According to the code of conduct, “a student shall not engage or threaten to engage in self-injurious behavior that negatively impacts or is disruptive to the learning/living environment of others.” Removing a student from campus for this reason is rare, Voisin said, because people have the right to have a mental illness. For example, this might happen if a student’s self-injurious behavior required a roommate to look after them at all times, miss class and not complete assignments, Voisin said.
Sometimes students will choose to take some time off from school, and in those circumstances, Voisin said they will work with students to try to help them withdraw from their classes or get an incomplete for their classes, depending on the time in the semester. If they’ve been in contact with the student or the parents and know the student plans to return to campus, they will try to set up an appointment with a counselor to talk to the student about how they’re feeling and what their plan is.
“Our goal is to try to support them and get them back in school to progress toward their degree,” Voisin said. “Our desire is not to kick somebody out or remove them from CMU.”