Several programs on MU’s campus have been created to help students with personal problems.
One such program is the At Risk Behaviors Committee, whose purpose is to provide coordinated response to distressed students.
The committee was created partly due to violence on other college campuses in recent years, such as the Virginia Tech shooting, said Cathy Scroggs, chairwoman of the committee and vice chancellor for student affairs.
Another reason for its creation is that people from several different departments had begun noticing the same concerning behavior in particular individuals. The committee makes it possible to centralize concerns from people of different university venues, Scroggs said.
“It gives people a sense of who they know to contact,” she said.
Once a concern is raised to the committee, two mental health professionals help to determine the appropriate course of action. Because the actual individual issues can range from someone having a rough day to someone exhibiting signs of severe depression, the mental health professionals help to distinguish problems that require intervention from those that do not.
If intervention is recommended, the response might be a residence hall staff member asking a student if they are going to counseling or requiring a student to go to the hospital and contacting the student’s parents.
“The most important issue is to solve the problem in order for the student to be successful,” Scroggs said.
The committee has met every two weeks since the fall semester of 2007.
“We manage to have enough to talk about,” she said.
It is difficult to determine the success of the committee, Scroggs said, because one cannot know what would’ve happened had intervention not taken place.
“In the long run, it keeps individuals and the campus safe,” Scroggs said.
Another resource available on campus for distressed individuals is the MU Counseling Center.
For currently enrolled students, the counseling center can provide individual therapy, group therapy and some couples counseling, said Pam Darby-Mullins, programming coordinator for Student Services at the counseling center.
“We see a variety of presenting concerns that range from day-to-day stresses to ongoing mental health concerns,” Darby-Mullins said. “The top reasons students have for coming in usually are stress, anxiety, depression and relationship concerns.”
Group therapy topics differ from semester to semester, but usually include relationship concerns, stress management, coping skills and eating and body image issues.
Undergraduate and graduate students are eligible for up to 12 sessions per academic year of individual or couples counseling, according to the counseling center’s Web site. There is no limit for group therapy sessions.
The center provides crisis walk-in services and consultations from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Faculty, staff and students also can call the center during those hours for consultation.
The center is also involved with outreach programs on campus that typically include presentations to students on various mental health topics, tabling at various information fairs and providing emotional support at events on campus.
Darby-Mullins said there is no cost for any of these services beyond what the student already pays in student fees.
