With the alarming number of college students struggling with their mental health, Eric Wood, director of counseling and mental health at TCU, believes that college counseling centers cannot single-handedly address this issue. In an op-ed for Inside Higher Ed, he discussed how these centers can work with community providers to better serve students and meet their mental health needs.
“This partnership with treatment centers and community providers creates a win-win-win
situation,” where “students receive a high level of treatment,” wrote Wood.
Wood explained the Comprehensive Collaborative Care Model, which he implemented at TCU to address national trends in student mental health. This model led TCU to collaborate with local treatment centers and community providers to offer specialized, college-specific programs on campus for the 20% of students with high mental health needs.
“I believe if every school had specialized services for students with high needs, active peer support communities and dedicated triage and crisis response services, we would make a generational impact and put a huge dent in the mental health crisis facing America.”