THE PHILOSOPHY OF BIT

Counseling vs. Assessment

Mandated “Counseling”  Gilbert & Sheiman (1995)  Predicated on the notion that counseling will reduce unwanted behaviors, and therapists can predict future problems  Legally and ethically questionable  Ineffective and possibly harmful — factors influencing clinical success are compromised  Doesn’t address behavior  Damages counseling center’s integrity

Mandated “Assessment”  Paul Joffe (2003) - University of Illinois  Students who present as apparent suicidal risks mandated to 4 sessions of “assessment”  4 areas of focus:  Assessment of suicidal risk (ideation, intent, means)  Examine antecedents, thoughts & feelings  Psychosocial history and lifetime history of suicidality  Discussion related to university policies  Goal…hook the student

Campus Mental Health Recommendations  Prevention and outreach services should begin at orientation with attention to educating students and parents.  Faculty and staff should be educated about mental illness and available resources  Specific components of student services should be assigned the tasks of providing outreach & educational services (e.g., counseling centers)  Campuses should have “No Wrong Door Policies”  System should be comprehensive to prevent crises and respond to those that do occur (i.e., appt. availability, coordination, response procedures, postvention procedures, training) (Mowbray et. al., 2006)

Passive Intelligence (The 50,000 foot view)

EXAMPLE: Class Absenteeism  Absenteeism as an important indicator of students’ emotional functioning  Referrals by faculty to Student Affairs for absenteeism and other academic concerns  Other Types of “Passive Intelligence”  Seeing the picture vs. Seeing the Movie

BIT SETUP

CRITERIA/CATEGORIES BEHAVIORALLY NCHERM CUBIT 1. Suicidal Ideation/Attempt 2. AOD hospitalization Involuntary (definite) Voluntary (Institutional Choice) 3. Mental Health Disturbances  Threat Level  Mild  Moderate  Elevated  Severe  Extreme

MEMBERSHIP CORE GROUP OUTER CIRCLE  Judicial  Counseling Center  Housing  Police INNERCIRCLE  Disability Services  General Counsel  Others as necessary for campus support  Other Student Life  Greek Affairs  Registrar  Academic Affairs  Media Relations  Others, as necessary

MEMBERSHIP VERSUS CIRT SUSTAINABILITY BACK UPS KEEP IT LEAN & AGILE

Leadership  The person on campus who has the ability to remove/restrict students from campus  Generally the Dean/Judicial Officer  Pros and Cons of Counseling Center as leader?

Protocol Suggestions  How Incidents are reported  Create an automatic response mechanism  Ease  Anonymity  Database Management  Sole Possession Records  Letter generation  Letter delivery  Counseling/Assessment assignment  Automatic? After Meeting  Nature of the assessment? (Individual? Group?)  Student “appeal”

Other Considerations  Timing  “Amnesty”  MARKETING  Students  Parents  Faculty  Treatment v. Assessment  Resource Allocation

BIT IS TRIAGE!