Auburn University Student Counseling & Psychological Services offers students 10 free individual therapy sessions for every academic school year.
While there are many positives to the mental health services that Auburn offers, students have expressed that there is also a need for reform in some areas.
“I think that they should be more flexible to offer more sessions," said Brandon Rowand, senior in counseling psychology. "Just because sometimes 10 doesn't work for a lot of people, they may need more sessions than that."
The limit on sessions can deter people from trying to seek help, especially if they are not looking for group therapy. Students also were unimpressed with the lack of options when it came to seeking help outside of Auburn University.
Rowand pointed out that the duration of the counseling sessions was an issue for him. He expressed the need for longer sessions and also pointed out the fact that many of the group therapy sessions felt poorly monitored.
“I have a lot of friends who were very frustrated that it was harder to see counselors in like the general Auburn area just because they didn't like to come on campus, but I was pretty fine with it,” Rowand said.
Solomon Reed, graduate student in public administration, said while he thought the process was straightforward for him personally, it might be overwhelming for a young undergraduate student.
“I guess that I got into group pretty easily so that was nice, but then individually it has been a bit more of a tunnel process,” Reed said.
The process for getting into one-on-one therapy can be a bit difficult due to some extra hoops students have to jump through just to get an appointment scheduled.
In order to reform this issue, SGA President Jake Haston, junior in journalism, spoke about what his administration plans to do regarding mental health services at Auburn University.
“One aspect of my platform is introducing a web portal for medical clinic appointments," Haston said. "I believe this will make getting medical care easier for students. I plan to advocate for this with administrators in the coming weeks."
He highlighted the importance of this policy as it lifts a large barrier between students and the help that they need. When a student is seeking mental health services one of the biggest issues is accessibility and convenience. Once a student starts the process, it is more stremalined but getting an appointment and even accessing information regarding one's individual options can pose to be a difficult task.
“Making it known and clear to all students that these services are available is vital. I plan to work with the communications and marketing team in SGA to brainstorm and discover new ways that we can ensure all students know these services are available,” Haston said.
Jake Haston has expressed plans to ensure that students are given equal and easy access to psychological health care.
“I would want to make it clear to the student that he or she is being taken seriously, and that I, as a representative of SGA, truly care about them and their well-being," Haston said. "I would look to sit down with the student and discuss different ways Auburn can better serve the individual student’s needs, and how we can do a better job addressing mental health on this campus."
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
