Petition: Restore Mental Health Counseling at UMN CVM

[SnowJ]

Hi everyone! The University of Minnesota CVM announced recently that they will be cutting the mental health counseling position for veterinary students. At this time the University is planning to add mental health resilience into the curriculum and to hire a student success position to try and improve student mental health, but none of this has been done yet. We are losing our primary support without a backup plan, and without a discussion between the students and administration about how this would impact us.

Multiple student groups are petitioning the College to retain a counselling position for students and to be more transparent with wellbeing decisions concerning the student body. This includes our Student Council, Student AVMA Chapter, and Veterinarians as One Inclusive Community for Empowerment (VOICE): http://chng.it/Rm99dS6s8C
Full disclosure that I am on the VOICE board and helped with the creation of this petition (as much as I can while in clinics anyway)

If anyone has the time to sign it and spread the word, it would mean a lot to me and the rest of the vet students! Our counsellor has been a cornerstone of mental health at the CVM; she was integral for me navigating the stress of leaving a very toxic job and eventually seeking therapy that I desperately needed, and I know a lot of students have felt the same. Any amount of support is appreciated!

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[turnandburn]

Aren't there mental health counselors available through the university that vet students can access? I imagine this is one way to try to reduce overhead/ keep tuition manageable.

 

[SnowJ]

Aren't there mental health counselors available through the university that vet students can access? I imagine this is one way to try to reduce overhead/ keep tuition manageable.

They are very difficult to schedule with and require going to the other campus. It's not impossible but it sets up a lot of barriers that make it a lot less accessible. [we have this issue with multiple services because we are on the smaller campus; 'university' resources rarely means they are easy for us to get our hands on]
Anecdotally I have heard they aren't really equipped to handle professional student issues. Also they don't see clinical year students at all because they aren't equipped for it.

 

[battie]

Aren't there mental health counselors available through the university that vet students can access? I imagine this is one way to try to reduce overhead/ keep tuition manageable.

At my university, it was easier to go to a therapist off campus (helped found by the CVM counselor), then to go to a therapist on campus.