UHS Gives Mental Health Counseling

In the days and weeks following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., University Health Services (UHS) has found itself busy caring for students and faculty members.

Last Wednesday night’s UHS open house attracted over 200 students in two hours, an unprecedented turnout, according to UHS officials.

“We can’t be sure whether it’s because we’ve been heavily promoting, or because people are looking for help,” says UHS Director David S. Rosenthal ’59. “But both doctor services and mental health have been very busy.”

Following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, UHS has worked with individual schools to make sure mental health counselors are available to all students.

Each House Master was called by their UHS mental health liaison, who reminded them of the services and counselors available to help students cope with the attacks.

“Tutors have recommended that students go to UHS more often, but there hasn’t been a huge difference,” says Leverett House Master Howard Georgi ’67-’68. “Lots of people in the House have been very helpful, and students have been using those people.”

Mental health counselors have spent the past two weeks in the background role of supporting Harvard’s leadership, helping faculty and employees recognize what normal reactions to abnormal events are, and spotting potential problems.

Faculty members say they have remained especially aware of sensitive students.

“There are always a few we’re worried or concerned about, and keep an eye on,” Georgi says, “though our first concern was to find those directly affected.”

UHS Mental Health Services are equally aware of these students, according to Richard Kadison, director of Mental Health Services. “Some students are vulnerable from prior traumas and losses in their own lives, and are more affected,”Kadison says.

Still, students with no history of mental distress have found themselves struggling with the devastating emotions surrounding the terrorist attacks. “Normally I try to avoid UHS, though I was considering going to UHS or Room 13 because I was deeply affected by the whole thing,” says Andrew P. Ostergaard ‘03. “I suspect a lot of people went, though it’s not something you usually talk about.”

To accommodate the rise in students requesting counseling, UHS Mental Health Services canceled their regularly scheduled appointments following the attacks, and have held open group walk-in sessions as a supportive environment for students to express their grief. These sessions will continue for the near future, Rosenthal says.

All mental health services, including Urgent Care, have increased hours and walk-in appointments, which may be encouraging more students to take advantage of UHS resources.

“We’re preparing for delayed reactions,” Kadison says. “A lot of times, reactions are not conscious. Priorities change, concentration drops, and moods go up and down. I would expect some students to find themselves at 70-80 percent of normal in terms of concentration and motivation around midterms.”

Help for both students and staff facing strong emotions has sprung up in new places. Life Group, a UHS-sponsored grief counseling group, has increased its Memorial Church meetings from once a week to three or four times a week.

To aid UHS employees in dealing with the stress of counseling large numbers of students on sensitive topics, representatives from United Ministries and Hillel ran three non-denominational services in Holyoke Center, giving employees a forum to discuss their own feelings.

Over 40 employees attended each service.

“Physicians do a lot of outreach,” Rosenthal says. “But they need to do some in-reach too.”

—Staff writer Arianne R. Cohen can be reached at cohen7@fas.harvard.edu.