Breaking the stigma around mental health, especially at the college level, requires access.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fresno State offers a plethora of ways to access mental health services through the Student Health and Counseling Center, and students are completely entitled to them as they are included in student tuition.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing able to have a space where someone can step in and support you is always going to help expand and help people get better, and we also as a whole, in the Counseling and Psychological Services Department, we really, really lean into that,\u201d said Etisha Wilbon, the director of Counseling and Psychological Services.<\/p>\n
However, as Fresno State\u2019s enrollment numbers grow rapidly<\/a>, it\u2019s becoming increasingly harder to keep up with the demands of students looking to utilize the mental health services on campus.<\/p>\n Jesse Scaccia is a social justice journalism professor at Fresno State who wrote a book <\/a>about media literacy and mental health care access from his own firsthand experiences, while also telling the stories of young adults and mental health care professionals in the Central Valley.<\/p>\n He teaches his students every day about the importance of responsibly reporting on mental health topics, and has seen accounts of the mental health crisis even within the campus community.<\/p>\n \u201cStudents are feeling more alive and engaged as we get further from COVID,\u201d Scaccia said. \u201cOn the other hand, when I read my students\u2019 personal writing, I see so much sadness, isolation, fear, anxiety and dark thoughts. So many students need help \u2014- mental health care, community, help developing positive habits.\u201d<\/p>\n The Student Health and Counseling Center is constantly pushing for more resources for students. Wilbon says it all relies on their budget.<\/p>\n \u201cI think on our end, we do a lot of advocacy,\u201d Wilbon said. \u201cWe kind of look at the data and say, Hey, we probably need more counselors to serve more students. This is what our caseloads look like.\u201d<\/p>\n The center has had to find ways to get innovative in their care-providing to ensure that they are able to stretch out the services for their students.<\/p>\n \u201cOf that 25,000, we probably have a pocket of about 6,000 that seek out these specific kind of services, we only have 11 counselors to serve those individuals,\u201d Wilbon said. \u201cThe ratio is about 900 to 1000 per person.\u201d<\/p>\n In a 2024-2025 campus health and wellbeing impact report <\/a>done by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, another CSU with an enrollment number of about 23,000, their Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) reported 2,430 students served.<\/p>\n Diego Abeloos, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo\u2019s director of strategic communications, said in an email that the school has 25 counselors on staff.<\/p>\n Fresno State has roughly 2,000 more students enrolled than Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and a much higher number of students seeking mental health support \u2014 but they have less than half the staff to combat the influx.<\/p>\n \u201cTo actually meet the mental health needs of students we need many, many more counselors at the student health center,\u201d Scaccia said. \u201cWe need enough counselors that students can develop longer-term therapeutic relationships with counselors. That\u2019s when the magic happens. And more counselors means shorter wait times between sessions, and less wait times before the initial session.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the reasons the Student Health and Counseling Center provides different levels and types of therapy for its student body; \u201cLet\u2019s Talk\u201d group sessions throughout the week, quick drop ins through mental health triage, standard recurring one-on-one therapy and even virtual after-hours sessions, is to help counter its lack of resources.<\/p>\n \u201cThe way that we\u2019ve gotten around it is using the stepped care model, which is backed by research,\u201d Wilbon said.<\/p>\n