Presentation reports rising number of troubled students

Faculty and staff from Campus Safety, the Wellness Center and the Department of Psychology, Sociology and Counseling spoke during the spring trimester general meeting Friday, Jan. 11, about the need for increased awareness regarding students and other members of the University community suffering from emotional stress.

Campus Safety Director Clarence Green said a Student Threat Assessment Team meets weekly to review reports of suspicious, threatening or destructive behavior. Green urged faculty and staff to call 911 or the Campus Safety office at 660.562.1254 (ext. 1254 on campus) whenever a situation poses “immediate danger to students or others.”

According to Green, reports of emotional volatility lead to a range of responses from simply checking on someone to see if they are all right to a mandated psychological assessment.

Sometimes, he said, informing authorities about a “hunch or a glimpse of someone who may be experiencing anxiety” is enough to ward off serious problems or potentially tragic actions before they happen.

University Medical Director Jerry Wilmes, M.D., followed Green and said today’s college students have grown up in “an emotionally turbulent society,” which has caused a dramatic increase in the number of troubled young people.

A dozen years ago, Wilmes said, students were most often troubled by problems related to relationships, identity and career choices. Today that list has lengthened to include severe stress and anxiety, depressive disorders and thoughts of suicide.

Another factor, he said, is the advent of psychotropic drugs used to treat students with serious mental conditions such as bipolar disorder. In the past, these conditions often prevented people from attending college, but that is frequently no longer the case.

“Over the past 15 years, things have changed,” Wilmes said, “and we have an institutional and departmental responsibility to students undergoing emotional distress, not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because the culture at this University requires us to provide services that will allow those students to be successful.”

According to Wilmes, the Counseling Center conducted 11 mandated assessments in 2005-’06 and 12 such assessments in 2006-’07. In fall 2007, however, the center conducted 20 mandated assessments, and Wilmes warned that most such cases usually occur in the spring.

Drs. Jacqueline Kibler and April Haberyan of the Department of Psychology, Sociology and Counseling, concluded the presentation with a discussion of what to do when confronted with an emotionally troubled or violent student in the classroom or elsewhere.

The techniques they suggested for dealing with a wide range of problems and situations are summarized in “Assisting the Emotionally Distressed Person,” a booklet distributed to faculty and staff at the meeting and available from the Counseling Center.

Essentially a series of lists of actions that are either “helpful” or “not helpful” the guide covers such areas as abusive relationships, anxiety, demanding behavior, depression, mania, substance abuse, suicide and verbal and physical aggression.

For more information, or to request a copy of the booklet, call the Counseling Center at 660.562.1220 (ext. 1220 on campus) or e-mail m500603@nwmissouri.edu.

For more information, please contact:

Anthony Brown,
News Bureau Manager
E-Mail: abrown@nwmissouri.edu
Phone: 660.562.1704
Fax: 660.562.1900

Northwest Missouri State University
219 Administration Building,
800 University Drive
Maryville, MO 64468

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