my results
Some reasons why students hadn't utilized the counseling center included: "I haven't felt the need", "It's inconvenient", "I'm embarrassed to go", don't know where it is or what it is, "I've heard it's bad", as well as "They do not offer regular therapy sessions; I was told they could only refer me to an outside therapist". Not only is some of this information inaccurate, but it's disheartening to know that some students do not even know where or what the counseling center is, and that they don't feel comfortable going due to lack of trust or fear of it being bad and not helping them.
The fact that 51% of students think that there is a stigma at Emory against mental illnesses is disheartening enough, but some of the responses to the "Why or why not?" question were interesting as well. Some of these responses included: "Seen as taboo", "It is something that several people think one can just shake it off and get better", "As a student with mental illness, it's been hard to explain to teachers and students", "It's perceived as weak to admit that your brain may work a little differently". While may people argued that Emory is an accepting environment that tries to educate everyone on mental illnesses, others thought that "Emory is no exception" and "Emory always tries to point out differences amongst people, even though we all say that we care about diversity and celebrating differences".
Of the 13 students who had been referred to a therapist/psychiatrist outside of Emory, about 8% of these students found that the referral process was somewhat helpful or unhelpful. Some of these responses included: "Somewhat helpful, but I don't think if they see someone that needs help, they should follow through and make sure that person goes to seek help instead of just sending patients on their way", and "I think the counseling center should offer the free appointments for a year, not a semester since being referred out is expensive and hard to get to".
Based on these results, I was able to draw several conclusions about the efficacy of the counseling center and the services it offers.
Based on these results, I was able to draw several conclusions about the efficacy of the counseling center and the services it offers.