It’s easy to feel like another number when sitting in a lecture hall of more than 100 or existing among a student body of nearly 40,000, but Temple students should not have to feel like just another case when turning to student counseling services at Tuttleman Counseling Center.
As reported in “Counseling and help, weeks away”, the center is having difficulty keeping up with the demand of students seeking its free counseling services, and student appointments are getting backlogged, sometimes for days or weeks.
Despite bringing in psychology interns, fellows and additional staff, the traffic is still too high for the center. According to a research study done by Fox School of Business, students who receive an appointment within two weeks of reaching out are 90 percent likely to show up, but as the wait period increases, students become less likely to show to their appointment.
The Temple News echoes Temple Student Government Student Body President David Lopez’s belief that access to mental health resources at the university needs to be improved.
Funding should not stand in the way of the well-being of students. More than 2,500 students utilized the center’s resources last year, the center’s director John DiMino said.
The Temple News is concerned with the center’s triage program, which assesses the severity of the student’s issue based on a test and preliminary interview. Students determined to have higher-risk symptoms are seen within two business days. While it’s necessary to have a system like this in place when dealing with an understaffed center, it potentially puts people with serious problems but less overt symptoms at risk.
We compel administrators to see the center receives the funding and added staff it needs to run its services effectively so no student feels like his or her concerns are being weighed out against others’. Access to mental health resources should not be a waiting game.
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