Med School Begins Peer Counseling

Harvard Medical School students dealing with anxiety over exams, wrestling with loneliness or looking for a good place to eat can now turn to a new resource right in their dormitory.

The directors of Room 166, a peer counseling center that opened this month in the Medical School dorm Vanderbilt Hall, are predicting success for the new program.

"I think it will work for these [medical] students because it fulfills a need that wasn't met in the past," explained Vanessa L. Smith, who co-directs the program with another second-year medical student, Peter Hatcher.

Training Workshop

The room, which is operated by about 35 student counselors, is open to all Medical School students, Smith said. The counselors underwent a training workshop Labor Day weekend with four undergraduate peer counselors from Johns Hopkins University, she said.

Though similar in name and function to the undergraduate peer counseling service, Room 13, the Medical School group is completely independent of the undergraduate organization, said Jeff L. Greenwald, a Room 166 counselor.

After holding two weeks of "rap sessions" with first-year med school students to evaluate their needs, the room has assumed its open-door format every Sunday through Thursday from 8 p.m. to midnight.

So far, attendance has varied, averaging one or two visitors a night, according to Greenwald.

Despite the room's somewhat slow opening weeks, Smith said, she still believes the program will be successful.

Support Among Students

"It gives students a forum where they can learn to draw support from each other," said Smith, "which is something you're going to need a lot of as a medical student, an intern and a resident."

The program originated last fall when Medical School administrators asked several students to devise a peer chemical dependency counseling program. A subsequent survey of medical students revealed that while less than one-third called alcohol a problem, 83 percent of first-years and 98 percent of second-years found anxiety a major concern.

Also, over 70 percent of those polled rated depression a problem. The student organizers decided to widen the scope of their program to include any problems with which undergraduates frequently must cope.

Though not affiliated with the University, the program received initial financial support from the Medical School's Office for Student Affairs and was granted free use of space and utilities from the school.

"[Room 166] is certainly encouraged and supported by the Medical School," said Edward M. Hundert, associate dean for student affairs at the school. He added that he was a "tremendous fan" of the students working on the program.