MIT Expands Mental Health

MIT will significantly expand its mental health service offerings this spring and summer. The changes will increase the mental health staff’s size and improve the timeliness of appointments for students.

The changes, announced Wednesday, come on the heels of a survey of MIT students that found students viewed creating more timely appointments their number one priority for improving mental health services. MIT in the past 12 years has seen 11 of its students commit suicide, and is currently facing a lawsuit by the family of a student who killed herself two years ago.

The university will add $838,000 to its mental health services’ budget to hire four more clinicians and two staff members starting in the fall.

And beginning this month, MIT students will be able to speak immediately with a senior clinician when they first call rather than having to make an appointment for a later time.

Harvard University Health Services (UHS) has also been working to minimize the time gap between when students ask for help and receive care. Mental health experts say this gap can place undue burden on students seeking treatment.

But in comparison with the new MIT policy, Harvard students are often required to have an added conversation before being matched with a clinician.

According to UHS, when students come in for mental health care during regular hours for non-emergency situations, they are asked to make another appointment “usually within 24 to 28 hours,” before being matched with a specialist.

At MIT, under their new system, this initial conference takes place immediately—even over the phone, if necessary.

To increase accessibility to mental health services, UHS is considering alternatives to face-to-face appointments.

“We are looking at counseling online, and we’re working with the College Health Initiatives as well,” said UHS Director David S. Rosenthal ’59.

Additionally, Rosenthal said UHS is constantly using student feedback to determine how to improve its offerings. The results of its latest mental health survey should arrive over the summer.

“We are continuously looking to get ideas from students about what they need,” he said. “We also have three questionnaires on our website that students can fill out to assess their needs.”

Along with these assessments, UHS has been working with other Harvard administrators to increase awareness of mental illness. Most recently, UHS worked with Provost Steven E. Hyman to hold Harvard’s Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy Week, aimed at reducing the stigma associated with mental illness and encouraging students to seek treatment.

“We’ve had a significant increase in student use of our services in the last two years, since we’ve begun our outreach,” Rosenthal said. “Our budget has increased over the last three years by three times.”

As part of their mental health services reform, MIT will also begin an awareness and de-stigmatizing campaign and will use a more aggressive advertising strategy.