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Share Your Views on the Formation of CSHAL
Inspired by what we’ve learned about your concern for the health and safety of your children, and driven to do something about those concerns in a forum that is student-centric and respectful of the traditions and laws related to student life and student health, we have taken steps to create a 501(c)(3) organization that will address those concerns in a meaningful way.
The Center for Student Health and Life (CSHAL) will be, first and foremost, supportive of students and driven to address student concerns. Yet, because of CSHAL’s birth within the hallways of College Parents of America, it will also be grounded in the parallel reality of the importance of school and parent support for the health and wellness of the student.
Please Share Your Views on the Formation of CSHAL by leaving a comment below and tell us your thoughts as to what issues this new group – dedicated to improving the health and wellness of students during their college years and beyond – should address.
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on Monday, February 11th, 2008 at 5:00 pm and is filed under College, Campus Life, Health.
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March 14th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
I would like to see it discussed how colleges respond to parents health concerns regarding their children. My daughter’s mental health her first semester, freshman year, was of major concern to me, and I was frightened after phone calls, a visit. I attempted to contact the party seeing her (she was seen two months, since the start of school, for counseling). I questioned whether she needed “something more” and expresed my serious concerns. I allowed myself to feel reassured, TRUSTED that they would do something/intervention… Three weeks later I received a phone call that my daughter had overdose on over 60 pills. She was being taken by ambulance to a hospital. Too late for charcoal because so many hours had passed. I feel she slipped through multiple cracks. First of all, I’ve learned, the college has three different areas that provide mental health services (I didn’t know this at the time). If a student has a fever, there is one infirmary. In an attempt to reach the correct party with my concerns, I attempted to contact a listing that SEEMED appropriate. I knew my daughter was seeing an intern and it was a doctoral counseling program. It was the wrong area. After a visit to my daughter heightened my concerns, I found another listing/reached another area, that did confirm it was where she was being seen. A therapist had told me while they couldn’t share information about her (which I did not ask for) they could “hear” me, which is why I reached out. However, the clinician on call I spoke with never made me aware of any resources (I now ask why) An intern was left to handle the crisis (the supervisor seemed not to be involved). I’ve requested policies from the college, through a lawyer, as they wouldn’t supply them to me when I asked. In fact, after meeting with a Deputy Provost, he told me a lawyer was an alternative person I could sit down and talk to! They seem to have no valid policies in place for such. I then learned that they had appropriate mental health services in University Health, a third area of campus, where my daughter is now seen since her return (which I had to get involved in, as they initially refused to see her!). I find what happened when I reached out an unacceptable standard, and am dismayed that the college says they did nothing wrong/erred. The reassurance I got and trust I placed in the college counseling center she was being seen in was completely false… and could have cost my daughter her life (she was lucky she didn’t die). Yet, the college doesn’t think they have to do anything differently?
How do parents deal with issues like this?
February 12th, 2008 at 8:03 am
My son, a junior in college, lost a friend to suicide in his senior year of high school. In college, he had a former roommate attempt suicide and, a few months ago, a very close friend took her life by jumping off of a bridge days before winter break. I believe there should be more outreach and awareness of the potential for suicide on campus and more psychological help offered to young adults. I think this is a huge issue and it would be so valuable for you to add this to your agenda.
February 11th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
HI!! The new organization sounds GREAT! One important thing for all of us to remember is that if student is healthy when he/she arrives on a college campus, it highly increases the likelihood of a student staying healthy throughout college and beyond. Good Luck!!!