BEHAVIORAL HEALTH IN HIGHER ED

Academic and Student Affairs Committee

November 19, 2019

Katie Fitzsimmons, NDUS Director of Student Affairs

STUDENT MENTAL HEALTH
AND ACCESSIBILITY

Lisa A. Johnson, NDUS Vice Chancellor for Academic & Student Affairs
Katie Fitzsimmons, NDUS Director of Student Affairs
 Student Mental Health

• Since 2014, we’ve seen a 20-50% demand

increase for counseling services
• Most counselors booked out for two weeks
• Services in residence halls and within the
community to meet the needs
• Seven campuses have 1 counselor; Two have 2
(MiSU and VCSU); Two have 3+ counselors on
staff (UND and NDSU)
• Telemental health services provided
 Enrollment and
Mental Health Outreach
On-campus Enrollment and
Mental Health Appointments
45000
40000
35000
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 Fall 2019
Enrollment Mental Health Appointments

*Numbers reported for Fall 2019 appointments reflect only through

October 1, 2019
 Number Explanations

• While face-to-face enrollment dropped 6.5%

System-wide, mental health needs dropped only
4.5%, among the eight campuses reporting data
• The drop in provided services is also reflective of
less counselors on campuses, due to budget cuts
and thus, more off-campus referrals
• Counseling professionals do a lot of referrals off
campus to meet the needs, but also because
some students present with needs outside of their
scope of practice and/or licensure
 Student Mental Health
Challenges
• The students who are not reaching out for help
• Not enough staff; and not enough licensed staff
• Data shows the need for increased outreach and
preventative programming, but not enough
resources available
• Having enough counseling hours available
• Having enough physical space
• Staff burnout due to increased workloads
• Expectations of parents and students
• Appointment wait times: 1-2 weeks for some
• Lack of services off campus that are close,
especially for medication management
 Student Mental Health:
Funding Needs
• Increased staff for counseling, prevention
coordination, and student accessibility services
• Campus-wide prevention and outreach efforts
• Campus-wide professional development specific to
the prevention and mental health needs of students
• Continued support for NDUS-wide data collection
(NDSWAPS)
• Professional development for staff to maintain
credentials/attain adequate CEUs
• Funding for partnerships with medication
management staff
 Student Mental Health

Diversity of concerns:
• Students experiencing homelessness
• Students with food insecurity
• Students with documented trauma

More concerns for campuses:

• Liability issues with student mental health
• Safety/protection concerns
• Simply more at stake, or so it seems
 Connection to Accessibility

There used to be a greater need for

intellectual accommodations, but now, there
is a shift. There is a far greater need for
emotional accommodations for students with
accessibility needs. Namely:
• Anxiety
• ADHD
• Depression
• PTSD, Bipolar, eating disorders, social
anxiety, and others
 Connection to Accessibility:
A snapshot of one campus

Emotional disabilities: 66.4%

Anxiety (17.2%); ADHD (15.5%); depression (8.2%); major
depressive disorder (7.3%); generalized anxiety disorder (4.6%);
oppositional defiant disorder (2.7%); Borderline Personality
Disorder, PTSD, Bipolar (1.8%); social anxiety, eating disorders,
schizoaffective disorders, reactive attachment disorder, and
others (.9%)

Intellectual disabilities: 33.6%

Specific learning disability (21.8%); physical disability, such as
hearing, vision, MD, CP (7.3%); speech/language impairment
(2.7%); Autism (1.8%)
 Connection to Accessibility:
A snapshot of one campus
2014 2015
25% Emotional 28.6% Emotional
75% Intellectual 71.4% Intellectual

2016 2017
30.3% Emotional 45.2% Emotional
69.7% Intellectual 54.8% Intellectual
 NDSWAPS: North Dakota Student
Wellness and Perceptions Survey

• Replaced the CORE survey

• Fall of even years, System-wide
• Online
• 33,393 surveyed; 3,961 participated
(11.86%)
• Asked about substance use, sexual
assault, physical activity, mental
health, sleep, consequences, and
perceptions
 NDSWAPS: Mental Health Data

In the last month… 2-year Regional Research Overall

Down and depressed 10.0% 6.8% 6.2% 7.2%
Nervous, anxious, or on 15.0% 12.2% 12.5% 13.1%
edge
Could not cope with 39.6% 43.9% 38.0% 38.7%
things to do
Felt hopeless 6.1% 4.1% 3.3% 4.0%
Mentally exhausted 15.4% 16.8% 12.6% 13.5%
Very lonely 8.9% 7.2% 7.1% 7.6%
Overwhelmed with anger 6.6% 2.6% 2.1% 3.3%
Bothered by quality of 11.1% 11.3% 9.6% 10.0%
sleep
 NDSWAPS: Mental Health Data

In the last year… 2-year Regional Research Overall

Non-suicidal self-injury 12.8% 11.0% 10.7% 11.3%
Suicidal thoughts 23.6% 24.2% 22.3% 22.8%
Suicide plan 8.6% 8.2% 6.0% 6.8%
Suicide attempt 5.6% 2.1% 2.0% 3.0%
Stroking/fondling/kissing 18.8% 18.2% 22.3% 21.4%
without consent
Someone attempted to 10.9% 8.0% 8.4% 9.1%
have sex with you without
your consent
Had sex without your 6.0% 3.8% 4.1% 4.5%
consent
NORTH DAKOTA HIGHER EDUCATION
CONSORTIUM ON SUBSTANCE ABUSE
PREVENTION (NDHECSAP)

Katie Fitzsimmons, NDUS Director of Student Affairs

 NDHECSAP

• Vaping
• Medical & recreational marijuana
• Alcohol
• NDSWAPS data
 Vaping

• Each campus working on education

and campaigns
• NDSCS has banned possession of
vape pens
• All campuses are smoke-free; 10 are
tobacco free
• Substantial increase in use (15%
increase from 2017 to 2018 at UND)
 Marijuana

• Medical marijuana not allowed

on campus (because of DFSCA)
• Authorization from a medical
professional has no bearing
• Could affect housing eligibility
• Campuses have concerns about
ADA/discrimination
 Alcohol

• Still, by far, our largest substance

abuse concern
• Far-reaching consequences, just
like any other substance use
 NDSWAPS: Tobacco

2-year Regional Research Overall

2016 38.7% 29.5% 28.5% 30.5%
Tobacco use
in past year
2018 19.7% 17.3% 14.6% 16.0%
Tobacco use
in past year
2018 e-cig use 28.3% 22.5% 30.9% 30.1%
in the past
year
 NDSWAPS: Marijuana

In the past 2-year Regional Research Overall

year:
2016 19.1% 21.3% 24.6% 23.0%
Marijuana use
2018 18.2% 17.7% 20.9% 20.3%
Marijuana use
2016 Use of 2.3% 1.5% 2.2% 2.1%
other illegal
drugs
2018 Use of 5.7% 4.0% 5.0% 5.3%
other illegal
drugs
 NDSWAPS: Alcohol (all students)

2-year Regional Research Overall

2016 6.28 4.96 6.36 6.09
Average
drinks per
week
2018 2.59 2.53 3.1 2.66
Average
drinks per
week
2016 five or 39.9% 39.7% 44.1% 42.6%
more drinks in
a sitting (last 2
weeks)
2018 five or 49.5% 48.4% 54.9% 53.5%
more drinks in
a sitting (last
month)
 NDSWAPS: Alcohol (all students)

2-year Regional Research Overall

2016 72.4% 78.1% 75.4% 75.4%
Alcohol use in
last 30 days
2018 55.4% 64.0% 73.0% 61.8%
Alcohol use in
last 30 days
2016 Alcohol 79.5% 82.9% 81.1% 81.1%
use in last year
2018 Alcohol 74.4% 79.2% 82.8% 77.6%
use in last year
NDSWAPS: Parental Influence on Alcohol

2-year Regional Research Overall

2016 61.3% 63.6% 71.8% 68.4%
Parents talked to
them about
expectations
2018 68.2% 73.0% 76.5% 74.4%
Parents talked to
them about
expectations
2016 Parents’ 74.0% 76.9% 80.6% 78.8%
expectations
effective at
limiting alcohol
2018 Parents’ 77.5% 78.8% 81.0% 79.9%
expectations
effective at
limiting alcohol
 NDSWAPS: Faculty Influence

2-year Regional Research Overall

2016 Made lighthearted 44.8% 47.6% 73.4% 63.7%
comments about alcohol
at least once a month
2018 Made lighthearted 15.1% 17.7% 25.0% 22.4%
comments about alcohol
at least once a month
2016 Would change 30.7% 25.0% 19.0% 22.2%
alcohol use based on
instructors’ expectations
2018 Would change 15.3% 10.0% 6.4% 8.8%
alcohol use based on
instructors’ expectations
NDSWAPS: Alcohol Consequence Data

Overall 2016 Overall 2018

Hangover/nauseated/vomited 55.8% 72.8%
Memory loss/blackout 29.4% 43.0%
Performed poorly on 18.8% 28.1%
test/project/missed class
Been in trouble with law 9.0% 8.9%
Driven under the influence 18.2% 15.2%
Thought might have a problem 11.9% 8.8%
Done something later regretted 31.2% 36.9%
Been criticized 21.9% 26.1%
DWI/DUI 1.2% 1.2%
Hurt/Injured 11.0% 13.9%
QUESTIONS?
Lisa A. Johnson
NDUS Vice Chancellor of Academic and
Student Affairs
701-328-4143
lisa.a.johnson@ndus.edu

Katie Fitzsimmons
NDUS Director of Student Affairs
701-328-4109
katie.fitzsimmons@ndus.edu