Counseling and Psychological Services is preparing to help more students after the events of Sept. 11 brought an increase in appointments during Fall Quarter, Director Kathy Hollingsworth said.
CAPS hired a temporary psychologist to fill in until May. Her duties include intakes – the first consultation between psychologists and students – and regular counseling.
Hollingsworth said student traffic Winter Quarter will depend partially on national events in the upcoming months. Students may be susceptible to post-traumatic stress disorder, which can take several months to appear. Symptoms include recurring thoughts of the attacks, jumpy reflexes or remaining in a dazed state.
“Right now, people are very vulnerable to trauma,” Hollingsworth said.
During Fall Quarter, 552 students made appointments with CAPS counselors, compared with 429 students in Fall 2000, Hollingsworth said.
More students came at the beginning and end of Fall Quarter, she said. Although more students traditionally come in at the start of the year, Hollingsworth said the events of Sept. 11 brought in a higher number of students.
At the beginning of the academic year, students already on campus went to CAPS to talk about the events. Traffic increased near the end of Fall Quarter with students concerned about going home, Hollingsworth said.
“A lot of times students were just coming in about the issues in their lives, but the climate made it so that those issues were intolerable,” she said. “It’s like a glass that has fine lines, and someone really leans on it.”
About three-quarters of the students talked to a friend, resident assistant or peer health educator before coming to CAPS, Hollingsworth said.
John Rhyner, student Health Aide coordinator, said more students talked to peer health educators about depression, eating disorders and anxiety.
“There weren’t necessarily a lot of 9-11 problems, but it was the way those events were affecting them,” said Rhyner, a Weinberg junior.
Peer health educators are trained to handle some emotional problems, Rhyner said. Many PHEs and RAs also call the CAPS night hotline, staffed with nighttime therapists, if they need additional help, Hollingsworth said.
Students also can call the hotline or use CAPS’ walk-in hours from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.
CAPS was on high alert in August after the death of football player Rashidi Wheeler. Counselors went to the hospital and field immediately after the incident, Hollingsworth said.
Music sophomore Jenny Macfarlane said she referred herself to CAPS when feelings of uncertainty after Sept. 11 complicated other factors.
After a stressful finals week last quarter, her grandmother’s death, her father’s sickness and a fight with her best friend, Macfarlane thought she might need help. But she said she didn’t recognize the gravity of her situation until she went to CAPS. Talking to a CAPS psychologist was a good alternative to checking herself into a hospital or just asking friends for advice, she said.
Macfarlane said she had been hurtful to herself and others and that before talking to a psychologist she felt guilty. After visiting CAPS, Macfarlane said she is thankful she decided to use the counseling service.
“They really take it seriously,” she said. “They didn’t think, ‘Oh, well she’s just a student having a rough time.'”
