Counseling and Psychological Services devotes much time and energy to contribute to safety through our programs and services, including facilitating campus environments free of hate where diversity is supported and valued. The Counseling Center strives to work with students and the environments in which they live to facilitate health, well being, and civil behavior.
Counseling service staff is sometimes dismayed when the media or the general public do not understand the limitations they are under. Universities cannot restrict or limit students because they are odd, strange, weird, unusual, or bizarre, nor should they. People have a right to be eccentric even if they make others feel uncomfortable. Universities cannot make someone get treatment. In North Carolina, only the courts have that power. Further, a psychiatric diagnosis is likely to protect a student under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Students cannot and should not be dismissed from school because they have a mental illness. If they are dismissed it must be for disruptive behavior such as aggressive or threatening behavior or disruption of the educational environment. Usually the Dean of Students office makes those decisions. It is important to hold students to behavioral standards and to take action when codes are violated. The International Association of Counseling Services (IACS), the accreditation agency for collegiate counseling services, discourages counseling services from being involved with discipline or enrollment decisions.
Most universities have limited resources. A college can't monitor thousands of students on and off campus. Concentrating counseling center resources on serving the few potentially dangerous students for their four years or more of college would result in curtailing or eliminating services for many other students who need counseling and support. Psychiatrists can help with the increasing pathology and severity that counseling services are encountering, but there is a national shortage of psychiatrists.
The community mental health systems in most states have been diminished or dismantled in the past decade, purportedly in the name of mental health reform but apparently more in the service of cutting budgets and saving money. This severely limits referral resources, especially for the uninsured or low income students, many of whom cannot afford deductibles or co-payments. Even when a referral can be made, the outcome is dependent on the client's desire to change.
An Adobe Acrobat PDF copy of the complete document resized to fit on two pages of the Statement on the Role of the Appalachian State University Counseling and Psychological Services Center Managing Potentially Dangerous Students is available HERE.
The Counseling Center offers after-hours emergency coverage for urgent mental health concerns such as suicidal thoughts, sexual assault, and other trauma. Call the Counseling Center at (828)262-3180 and select the option to speak with the counselor on-call.
For additional resources see our Emergency Services page.
