Peter Merrill, deputy news editor
On June 1, the Counseling Center will discontinue its partnership with the Virtual Care Group (VCG), which has provided remote therapy and counseling to Berry students since September 2020. According to Assistant Dean of Student Wellness Michael McElveen, the partnership began as Berry was searching for a counseling center director and classes were remote.
“[The Virtual Care Group] took off,” McElveen said. “In fact, we had one of, if not the, highest utilization rate among all the school accounts that Virtual Care had.”
Because of the program’s success, Berry offered VCG services for the 2021-2022 school year as well, but the counseling center noted a sharp decline in student usage. Becca Smith, director of the counseling center, said that in the last six months, there have been 185 virtual sessions made through Virtual Care but 989 in-person sessions at the Counseling Center. Smith attributed this drop off both to the return of in-person classes and general dissatisfaction with Virtual Care Group.
“People responded that they just had a hard time connecting with Virtual Care Group,” Smith said. “They had trouble getting appointments, or their counselors told them they had limited sessions, or that they couldn’t serve them. For example, if you identified that you had an eating disorder, [counselors] say they cannot serve you, so those students were directed back [to the Counseling Center].”
Smith said that VCG’s less than satisfactory service only began this school year. Although telehealth appointments will still be available through the Counseling Center for students who feel more comfortable remotely, Smith said that most students vastly prefer in-person counseling.
Despite VCG’s shortcomings, Smith lamented the loss of 24/7 crisis line access and ability to pick from a diverse pool of counselors. The Counseling Center is in the process of reallocating funds that were paying for Virtual Care Group to hire counselors from diverse backgrounds, including a suicide prevention project director. Peer wellness coaches will also offer counseling services for less urgent matters.
“For relationship concerns, test anxiety, things that you just need to process with someone, you can talk to a peer coach instead of a counselor,” Smith said. “So, I’m hoping that will offer students an option who may not want to talk to a counselor but would rather talk to a peer. Plus, that opens up some hours for someone who really wants to talk to someone, I can send them to someone and say, ‘I can really trust you with this person.’”
According to McElveen, because the demand for appointments at the Counseling Center is so high, there is already a challenge to meet with students that need assistance, but he hopes that hiring more staff will help students to get the care that they need.
Freshman Melissa Pérez noticed that the Counseling Center was understaffed, a problem that she identified across the country at both the collegiate and high school level, and she decided to put a petition together.
“Coming to Berry, trying to get access to counseling services was very difficult,” Pérez said. “Especially because of the long wait times and it seemed like it was an issue that a lot of other students were having. I decided to research a bit and figured out that 73% of college students go through a mental health crisis at some point. I took those numbers and applied it to the Berry population which indicated that about 1,600 of those students would need counseling services even though we only have four counselors taking appointments.”
Pérez emphasized the importance of providing more funding for the Counseling Center so that they can hire a more diverse staff that everybody can feel comfortable expressing themselves to. With her petition, she hopes to show Berry administration the desire that she, the student population and the Counseling Center have to hire more staff members from diverse backgrounds, such as people of color, that can better meet the needs of the Berry community. Her petition has over 100 signatures.
“I feel like the gears are kind of in motion,” Pérez said. “But there’s no knowing how soon the administration is going to be responding to that.”
Any students who have been utilizing VCG’s services through Berry will have free access to their counselors until June 1. Students who are concerned about the transition are encouraged to reach out to the Counseling Center or visit thrivingcampus.com. Go to Viking Fusion to sign Pérez’s petition