Presented by

Dr. Elena N. Lopez Khoury

Ms. Laura Green

Dr. Mahnaz Mousavi

Ms. Patricia Collins

Dr. Salaha Khan

Dr. Steve Wilson

Overview

Post-secondary education is a critical transition for young individuals and it could prove stressful for many due to posing high demands and expectations. The stress of academic, financial, and developmental demands, and potential decrease in accessing their previously established support systems, can challenge a student’s sense of self and may increase his/her susceptibility to develop mental health problems. Annual surveys by Association of College Counseling Center Directors in the U.S. indicate that the number of students with significant psychological problems is a growing concern. It is well acknowledged that promoting students’ wellness and attending to their emotional and mental health needs is an important contributor to students’ academic success, retention, and on-time graduation. Therefore, student counseling centers have become an integral part of a support system for students in the U.S. and increasingly in other parts of the world. This become more critical here in Qatar as Qatar Mental Health Strategy launched by Ministry of Public Health in December 2013 has cited research highlighting low level of knowledge and high level of misconceptions about mental health in Qatar. This plan emphasizes the need for raising awareness and calls for increasing access to timely and appropriate support within people’s immediate communities. In particular, it has emphasized the need for increasing the capacity of young people to manage social and emotional challenges and to help prevent mental illnesses using available support in their settings and has launched a call for action from schools and universities by establishing a dedicated committee for them. 

University branch campuses in Education City are in alignment with this call as they have adopted the models of counseling services on their main campuses and have modified and adapted them to fit to their community and culture. In this panel workshop, each branch campus will share their experiences in providing support to meet the diverse and complex mental health and wellness needs of their students during their time at university. The counselors will talk about the different types of services they have developed on their campuses in order to promote positive attitudes towards self-care and mental health, de-stigmatize mental illness, and encourage help seeking behaviors. They will address how they have cultivated relationships with students, staff, and other members of their respective universities and the larger community to support their students. The interactive part of the workshop provides an opportunity for the participants to contribute to the discussion and share their knowledge and expertise with each other and presenters on how to best support post-secondary students during the critical transition period of their life. They will explore how to add to the presenters’ collective knowledge and expertise as positive agents of change both for the students and their community.

Target Audience

Doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, allied healthcare professionals, students, educators, counselors and administrators.

Objectives

1. Recognize student mental health needs specific to university students. 
2. Describe campus community needs in seeking counselors’ expertise in specific situations with students or in more general ways.
3. Discuss strategies to raise awareness about wellness and mental health that promotes access to services in Education City campuses.
4. List the various types of services offered to address wellness and mental health in the Education City campuses.

Workshop Outline

References

Elles, G. & Mousavi, M. (2007). Reaching the Ones Who That Won’t Walk In: A Community Based Service Approach to Reach Students in Need. Presentation in AUCCCD Annual Meeting, Indianapolis, IN.

Khan, S. & Stephenson, C. (2014). Mental Health Strategy for Centennial College. Draft Mental Health Strategy, Office of Vice President, Student and Community Engagement, Centennial College Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Monitor on Psychology (2013). College Students’ Mental health Is a Growing Concern, Survey Finds. June 2013, Vol 44, No. 6

Mier, S., Boone, M., and Shropshire, s. (2009). Community Consultation andIntervention: Supporting Students Who Do Not Access Counseling Services. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 3: 1, 16 - 29

Mousavi, M.N. Elles, G., Wilson, S., & Strauchler, O. (November, 2014). Multiple Relationship: Exploring the Nuances of Working in a Campus Community. Paper presented at the Association for University College counseling Centers Directors Annual Conference, Chicago, Illinois.

2013 General Secretariat, Supreme Council of Health (2013). Qatar Mental Health Strategy, Changing Minds, Changing Lives, 2013-2018. Retrieved November 15, 2017, from http://nhsq.info/app/media/1166.

Reetz, D. R., Bershad, C., LeViness, P., and Whitlock, M. (2016). AUCCCD Annual Survey. Retrieved November 11, 2017, from https://www.aucccd.org/assets/documents/aucccd%202016%20monograph%20-%20public.pdf

Sharma, M., Mitchell, Sh., and Reetz (2017). Retention and On-Time Graduation: Leveraging Mental Health Prevention and Early Intervention to Support Academic Success. Presentation at NASPA Annual Conference, St. Antonio, Texas.