Update
Undergraduate education: Health services
The recommendations of
the Task Force on Undergraduate Education affect virtually all aspects of
undergraduate learning and life at Rutgers–New Brunswick/Piscataway, from
admissions and curriculum to campus facilities and the student experience. This
article – part of an ongoing Focus series as new policies and practices are put
into place – examines activities in the area of undergraduate admissions and
recruitment. Click here for an
overview of the implementation process.
In one of the many changes this year to the undergraduate experience in New Brunswick and Piscataway, students can now get psychological counseling at any of five counseling centers across the campuses – no matter where they live.
Before fall of this academic year, students could access these services only at the colleges in which they were enrolled. Now, they can go to one of two centers on the College Avenue Campus, two on the Douglass and Cook campuses, or one on Livingston Campus, all part of the new Counseling and Psychological Services.
Psychological counseling services, formerly administered by the liberal arts colleges, are now part of Rutgers University Health Services–New Brunswick/Piscataway. Located at the Hurtado Health Center on the College Avenue Campus, Health Services continues to provide psychiatric and substance abuse care under the direction of Executive Director Dr. Melodee Lasky.
Lasky believes the change allows for a more integrated approach to health care. “Health is not just medical or the absence of disease. As you look at a person, you need to look at them holistically and in the context of the community.” She said that the new system works by pulling everything together – psychology, medicine, and pharmacy – under one roof.
David R. Chandler, former director of the Rutgers College Counseling Center, has been named interim director of Counseling and Psychological Services. Chandler, who has served at the university since 1970, will retire this summer, and a national search is under way for his successor.
Chandler said his staff is maintaining a close working relationship with the Office of Residence Life and other student life offices that will be centralized by the beginning of next year. “All the offices need to continue providing services in the old model, while at the same time looking to the future,” Chandler said. “This year is primarily one of working to bring the various offices together on using the same procedures, so that students receive uniformly excellent service.”
In an effort to streamline the system, James Mandala, a staff clinical psychologist, is expanding an electronic scheduling system that will enable staff to make appointments for students with an appropriate clinician at any of the five clinics across New Brunswick and Piscataway. The system, expected to be in place soon, will enable students to make one phone call or visit one clinic and have access to appointments across the system. The new system should ensure consistency across all the sites and reduce students’ waiting time for appointments.
Counseling and Psychological Services offers short-term individual and group psychotherapy to help students with a wide range of problems. Depression, anxiety, and relationship issues are the most frequent reasons students seek help; relationships with family and eating disorders are also common among students seen at the clinics.
“In the long run,” Chandler said, “there will be more efforts to get students to seek help where it’s available and to give us a better match between resources and demand.”
Mental Health Services in New Brunswick and Piscataway
College Avenue
- 17 Senior St.
- 8 Lafayette St.
Cook/Douglass
- Federation Hall, 4 Jones Ave.
- 61 Nichol Ave.
Livingston
- Tillett Hall, Room 247