Don’t Phase Out Outreach

Over the past four years, the role of peer counseling group outreaches for first-year entryways has been diminished in the Yard’s residential education program. Current seniors, who entered Harvard in the fall of 2000, received outreaches from eight groups—the five peer counseling groups and three peer education organizations. The following fall, each entryway had two mandatory outreaches. A year later, first-years had just one meeting. And now, the Freshman Dean’s Office (FDO) has eliminated all mandatory outreaches by peer counseling groups. This decision does a disservice to first-years and limits the effectiveness of available mental health resources.

The FDO decided to redesign the first-year introduction to mental health services after peer counseling outreaches “attracted increasingly poor attendance and reviews in the past decade,” Dean of Freshmen Elizabeth Studley Nathans wrote in an e-mail. Instead, the FDO has “attempted to respond to students’ expressed wishes with a broader range of programs and services which are designed at the start of the year to provide crucial information about resources, and then to address group or individual needs as directly and as promptly as we can.”

The FDO’s redesign of mental health orientation is based on the flawed logic that generalizing information sessions for a broader audience is preferable to more numerous and more in depth outreaches that address the specific concerns of particular first-years. Although many of the informative, introductory meetings are burdensome at the time—or even irrelevant to many of the first-years present—in a moment of crisis when a student needs help and doesn’t know where to turn, another meeting will have seemed worthwhile. Many students will encounter such crises themselves, or among their friends, at some point during their four years.

The larger revision of Freshman Week mental health information sessions shows that the College has recognized the importance of addressing mental health issues on campus. But by not taking advantage of the existing peer counseling groups, the FDO is missing an important opportunity to put a human face on one of the many services available. Harvard students have a tendency to avoid asking for help at all costs; when first-years do need help, they will only think of peer counseling groups if they have been exposed to them. Without mandatory outreaches, the groups do not get much direct face time with first-years.

In the redesigned mental health orientation schedule, the only chance peer counseling groups automatically receive to introduce their services is a brief speech at one of the two safe community nights for first-years. This presentation is not likely to sink in during the rush of Freshman Week, when new students are being bombarded with information. Peer counseling groups still have the opportunity to meet with first-years by organizing outreaches through each entryway’s Freshman Wellness Representative—a student who volunteers at the beginning of the term to be the mental health point-person for his or her proctor group. But there is no guarantee that a Freshman Wellness Representative will understand the importance of introducing their fellow first-years to peer counselors on campus or that the members of a proctor group will come if an outreach is organized. By making these outreaches optional, the FDO belittles the important role peer counseling groups can play on campus.

Providing small-group contact with peer counselors introduces first-years to a valuable resource that they might not otherwise use. The discussions generated in the small group outreaches complement the overview of serious health-related concerns that first-years receive during orientation. More importantly, however, by showing first-years that there is a support-network available for all members of the College community—and that students are a part of it—peer counseling outreaches make the thought of seeking help at Harvard less scary.

Past outreaches certainly left some room for improvement, but just because students gave an event a lukewarm review is no reason to eliminate it entirely. The FDO should have worked with the groups rather than around them. Improving the quality of outreaches requires a coordinated effort of peer groups, other campus mental health resources and the FDO. Together they should reintroduce an improved mandatory peer counseling outreach for first-years at the start of the coming spring semester or for the class of 2008 next fall.

Peer counselors now have the responsibility to take a more active role in alerting first-years of their existence. And ongoing outreach for upperclassmen is important as well—to remind students of the availability of help and how important it is to seek it. Improving access to mental health resources at Harvard is essential, and peer counseling groups must continue to do just that—whether the FDO makes their outreaches mandatory or not.