Counseling Center remains understaffed

By Josh Holderbaum
Western Herald

Despite having 10 full-time staff members, five graduate assistants and three interns, the University Counseling and Testing Center is still considered understaffed, according to the International Association of Counseling Services.

According to the UCTC Web site, the primary purpose of the University Counseling and Testing Center is to provide student-centered services which focus on educational, career and personal counseling needs, along with prevention programs to promote mental health.

Despite a few new staff members, the center still does not have enough employees to meet the needs of students, said Kathy Lewis-Ginebaugh, Psy.D., assistant director of the Center.

“Even though we are fortunate to be able to have them, we are still understaffed,” Lewis-Ginebaugh said.
According to the IACS “every effort should be made” to have one professional counselor for every 1,000 to 1,500 students on campus. With around 24,000 students, WMU should have 24 counselors, a number WMU had in the past, Lewis-Ginebaugh said.

Currently WMU has 10 counselors; three of whom have administrative responsibilities that reduce the number of students they can see, Lewis-Ginebaugh said.

Two of the most recent faculty additions were Shamika Hall, a one-year renewable faculty appointment, and Carrie Hauber, a post-doctorate placement counselor. The center hired two full-time faculty members last year as well.

In addition to limited resources, counseling demand has also increased.

“Mental health needs are really becoming a priority,” Lewis-Ginebaugh said. “The Division of Student Affairs has done a lot to respond to that.”

Various events in students’ lives have pushed them to seek counseling, fueling the increased demand, Lewis-Ginebaugh said.

“Personally, I think life is very stressful to some people,” Lewis-Ginebaugh said.

“There have been a lot of disturbing and chaotic things going on, especially since events like Virginia Tech. A lot of people haven’t had a real stable family situation where they feel secure, so they don’t know how to respond to these things.”

With limited resources and increased demand, the center has been shifting how services are delivered to stem the problem.

“We’ve been revisiting how we bring in students, streamlining that process,” Lewis-Ginebaugh said. “We’re also looking at ways of being more responsive to the student body.”

However, the resources crunch hasn’t solely affected Michigan.

“Many centers across the country have been showing a lack in counselors,” Lewis-Ginebaugh said. “So we’re not being unique in our resources being stressed.”

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=2593

Posted by HeraldAdmin on Nov 25 2008. Filed under Campus, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Cody Kimball
Web Manager: I'm a Communication Student at WMU, a SCUBA Diver, Boater, Ordained Minister, Notary Public, Web Designer, Film Maker, DJ, and of course a Journalist. Born and raised in Port Huron, MI and a graduate of SC4. http://www.codykimball.com