Penn State’s mental health services changed due to COVID-19. Why some students feel ‘abandoned’
While Penn State’s counseling and psychological services department is looking to implement telehealth services, some students who have been without therapy sessions for weeks say they feel “abandoned” by the university.
The department gradually closed in-person services the week after spring break as guidance for mitigating the spread of the new coronavirus came into focus, CAPS Senior Director Ben Locke said.
CAPS is open, but students must first schedule an appointment by phone to discuss their concerns and review treatment options.
The university is not offering in-person or telecounseling services, but anticipates adding the latter after “sort(ing) through the web of state regulations,” Locke said.
That includes providing mental health services to a transient population throughout the United States and internationally.
Providing telecounseling across state lines has been a significant challenge for the department because of licensing and state regulations that would prohibit someone from practicing in every state or interstate, the university said.
Penn State graduate student Veronica Gruning, who utilized CAPS weekly for individual and group therapy, said the changes have been “very frustrating.”
“I just feel like they’re abandoning the students they’ve sent home,” said Gruning, who is from Virginia but is currently living in State College. “It’s extremely isolating for everyone right now and it seems irresponsible to not continue those mental health services.”
Options available to CAPS staff are “evolving by the hour,” Locke said Monday.
The university opted to take a phased approach to distributing telehealth services, which will take longer to implement, but is expected to be “high-quality, legal and reliable,” Locke said.
The university is working with a national network of counseling centers to develop resources to guide decision making about the provision of services over state lines.
Another challenge, Locke said, is that many students do not have high-speed internet, which further complicates what CAPS can offer.
The latest information can be found on the department’s website.
“We are seeking to take a carefully considered approach that allows our system to remain available to all students during the transition, considers a variety of factors including 20-plus campuses and allows us to stand up a well-considered set of services that are consistently administered,” Locke said.
Penn State freshman Abbie La Porta, of Centre County, attended weekly individual and group therapy sessions with about eight others, including a psychologist who facilitated the meetings.
Those meetings came to a halt soon after the university suspended all in-person classes for the spring semester, La Porta said.
But rather than abandon the meetings altogether, La Porta said she and other members of the group banded together and organized weekly Zoom meetings without a facilitator.
The support from her group members is uplifting, she said, though it doesn’t quite measure up to the “instrumental” CAPS services that aided her during her first semester.
“Penn State should treat this as a priority. It could take time to set up, but they should be working on it and not be satisfied with leaving us without care,” La Porta said. “Professors are expected to be available to students synchronously with their normal class times; that was a general rule for the remote learning period.
“I think CAPS services are just as important as classes and it shouldn’t be any different for them.”
This story was originally published March 31, 2020 at 11:12 AM.