Colleges Hiring More Counselors?

In these tough times, faculty and staff job openings may be fewer and far between, but the market for mental-health professionals may be heating up, as stressed-out students turn increasingly to campus counselors for help with problems big and small, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports in a recent article. Suzanne Boyll, counseling director at La Salle University, told the newspaper that “as of Oct. 16, the number of counseling sessions had spiked 48 percent to 204, up from 137 the same time last year.” And counselors at other universities have reported a similar trend.

To meet the growing demand, some universities are hiring more counselors. Temple University, for example, has added three counselors over the last five years, “at a cost of about $250,000″ while Ursinus College has added two, the Inquirer reports. Meanwhile, Lehigh University brought on two doctoral interns, and “St. Joseph’s University, where up to 13 percent of undergrads seek counseling,” is adding a case manager to “coordinate care for an increasing number of severe cases,” the newspaper notes.

Others, like Rutgers University’s main campus in New Brunswick, N.J. — which recently opened a new $5-million, 35-room counseling center and consolidated it’s mental-health staff — are reorganizing their existing counseling services to better identify and meet students’ needs, the Inquirer reports.

How is your institution handling increased student demand for mental-health services? Is your university adding counselors or are budget cuts leading to mental-health staff cuts?