Regents establish working group on student mental health

SALT LAKE CITY - The Utah State Board of Regents has appointed a special working group focused on student mental health at Utah's institutions of higher education.

The committee, lead by regents Pat Jones, Ty Aller, Jesselie Anderson, Mark Stoddard and Nina Barnes, was formed after discussion facilitated by two vice presidents of student affairs with the board during its Nov. 18 meeting.

The discussion highlighted what the Utah institutions are currently doing to mitigate the fast-growing issue of student mental health on college campuses.

Despite the significant challenges, Utah's institutions of higher education have been applying a variety of creative solutions to help mitigate the needs including:

* Counseling groups to help large numbers of students in a shorter time frame.

* Graduate interns to augment supply of trained professionals available to meet with students on campus.

* Contracting with Telemed services to access trained mental health professionals when needed.

* Hiring new staff to only work with crisis cases to hopefully keep them from escalating, as well as contracting with online "self-help" and 24-hour crisis hotlines to deal with less severe issues.

* Training faculty and staff to help identify mental illness symptoms and refer students for help.

The Utah Student Association, comprised of the student body presidents of Utah's colleges and universities, has identified student mental health as its top policy priority for the past two years. The association's focus has been on increasing access to therapists on campus, strengthening student support networks, and emphasizing preventative care. Student organizations have held dozens of campus events to increase awareness and advocacy, including social media campaigns and a statewide video.

A Joint Education Commission sponsored by the Utah Legislature in September also highlighted the issue of mental health in education - both in K-12 and higher education. Higher education and student leaders plan to work with legislators in the 2017 session to expand the service of the state's K-12 student tip line application to college students.