**5. Discussion**

*attend certain meetings. The majority of my time is spent either counseling or working with students in regards to academic…not doing well academically…Well that was the stuff I was talking about earlier in regards to providing the students …helping them with the time management, the study skills, the test anxiety and helping them to figure out how to organize their day in such a way that they're going to have balance in their day and then fits into their day, study times rather than just having fun… probably about a third of my load is counseling issues but not mental health issues…and when I recognize that there's an issue with a student, then I do whatever I can to get them in as soon as possible, including seeing them after hours or on the weekend if I get called in by somebody then I come in-----*

Some colleges were able to split the role of the counselor into two positions with one looking after student accommodations and related issues, and the other responsible for mainly counseling and associated functions. In less-resourced colleges, however, this division of responsibility was not feasible. Some colleges, despite being small, had designated accommodation specialists but often, because of their counseling/mental health background, these specialists had to take on counseling-related functions. One registered psychologist with a mental health background who had been appointed as an Accommodations Coordinator and Director of

*I am the Accommodation Coordinator--it could be for mental health or for learning disability, so I then help the students to get their academic accommodations which are quite different from counseling of course, so …that's my job here, one of my jobs. …the Director of Student Development does not have to be a registered psychologist, it just is a position that I've taken here. So yes, people would come and ask me but that's more or less, you know, because of my experience, not because of my position, I worked in mental health for twenty years but it would be a conflict of interest for me to start doing the counseling……but I can screen, I can give out the referrals, etc. so in many ways my position is still someone here who is a therapist and a psychologist who can do the mental health work but I don't engage in…I do not see students or staff in a therapeutic context.-- Well yeah, because I'm a therapist and a psychologist* 

This psychologist, despite not being mandated to address counseling issues, would be consulted on counseling and related issues. She highlighted her ethical dilemma arising from her

*But they would because they know I'm a psychologist- you attract the questions --but you know that's quite……a part of the ethics when you are a registered psychologist, is that you are there to help people even though when you're actually not on call and there's a certain part of your work that you are ethically expected to contribute to society and to do a certain amount for free and it's not ever mandated, there's no police out there but in the ethics of it when you are in a registered health profession, it'd be just like a doctor wouldn't pass, you know, shouldn't pass by, you know, somebody having a heart attack on the street. I mean there's kind of an ethic that you have a certain skill that you give so I think that applies here…and because we're quite small and I teach in the faculty. I teach psychology and I do the accommodations, then I'm the Human Rights Officer and I sort of do a lot of the administration for* 

In some small campuses, there were no designated counseling departments. Sometimes, teachers or instructors, without formal training, were forced to take on a counseling role. Students

*4.4.4. Use of contracted counseling services and experiences with external providers*

*4.4.3. Conflicts arising from "mandated and non-mandated" responsibilities*

Student Development in a small college explained her situation as follows:

*so I might --…it's not mandated by my position----.*

multiple roles in the following excerpt:

92 Health and Academic Achievement

*student issues around here…*

This study examined the challenges experienced by community college counselors in addressing the needs of students who experienced mental health disorders. Though the findings are based on a small sample of counselors from seven colleges in one province in Canada, they are nevertheless significant. The results are in keeping with the previous research which suggests that community college students comprise a large proportion of indigenous and ethnically diverse first-generation migrant students who experience multiple barriers [33, 39]. The findings also confirm that community colleges, despite serving a highly vulnerable student population, that experiences severe mental health problems and complex life issues, are struggling for resources to meet the psychological and mental health needs of the students [15, 36, 37]. In keeping with other research [17, 43], many counselors in this study resorted to either placing students on waitlists for services or referring students to outside providers, despite apprehensions about the quality of outsourced services. Some studies show that 42% of students referred for services outside of the counseling center are unsuccessful in connecting with a mental health provider and that students of color have lower rates (43%) of successful referrals than Caucasian students (58%) [44]. Current findings also highlight that even in cases of direct service delivery, counselors were able to provide only a minimal level of service, because of time constraints, the need to balance multiple roles due to lack of staff, and lack of knowledge/skills in specialized areas of practice.

Stigma was the other significant factor that prevented students from accessing services. Several studies show that stigma is associated with denial of the illness, failure to disclose, and follow through with treatment [45, 46]. The combined effect of stigma and the lack of timely and appropriate services for students experiencing mental health disorders can adversely affect their educational achievement, increase the risk of school dropout, lead to lower occupational attainment, workforce failure, and poor community integration.

ensure that students referred for services outside of the counseling center are successful in

Community College Counselors' Experiences and Challenges with Postsecondary Students…

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.75661

95

Community college counselors' caseloads comprise a significant proportion of students from ethnically diverse and minority backgrounds. Many of these students experience complex life issues and severe mental health conditions. In the face of rising demand for counseling services and decreasing resources, the counselors face several challenges in addressing the needs of these students. These findings make a strong argument for increasing resources for community colleges so that they can meet the needs of the students and support counselors in their role. They also suggest the need for a comprehensive provincial strategy that can address the rising incidence of mental disorders among marginalized students who aspire to gain postsecondary qualifications and join the workforce. Despite the significance of the findings, this study has limitations. The findings are based on a small sample of 10 counselors from seven community colleges across one province in Canada. Hence, the results cannot be generalized to other regions and student populations. Future studies must include a larger sample of counselors across more provinces in Canada. Future research can examine the perspectives of community college students on the counseling support they need and currently receive to address the challenges they face during their study program.

[1] Holmes A, Silvestri R. Rates of mental illness and associated academic impact in Ontario's college students. Canadian Journal of School Psychology. 2016;**31**(1):27-46.

[2] Hunt JB, Eisenberg D. Mental health problems and help-seeking behavior among college students. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2010;**46**(1):3-10. DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2009.

[3] Pedrelli P, Nyer M, Yeung A, Zulauf C, Wilens T. College students: Mental health problems and treatment considerations. Academic Psychiatry. 2015;**39**(5):503-511. DOI: 10.1007/

connecting with mental health providers [51].

and Conita Ip2

2 Mental Health Therapist, Canada

DOI: 10.1177/0829573515601396

\*Address all correspondence to: jshankar@ucalgary.ca 1 Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, Canada

**6. Conclusion**

**Author details**

Janki Shankar1\*

**References**

08.008

s40596-014-0205-9

#### **5.1. Implications for practice and policy**

The findings of this study have several implications for practice and policy. They suggest that community colleges are in urgent need for more comprehensive mental health resources to meet the needs of their diverse student body. Toward this, the counselors who were interviewed provided several recommendations. The first was to increase the number of part-time counselors especially during critical periods like mid-term and before the finals, as these are associated with an increase in the students' stress levels. Counselors who were providing the whole range of student support services including counseling suggested appointing people who could take on the academic and career-advising roles so that the counselors' time could be utilized for providing psychological services.

Counselors also proposed training some students within the campus to act as peer support for those experiencing mental health difficulties. The study on student support networks [47] suggests that students willing to take on peer support roles can be provided training in areas like (1) enhancing knowledge of mental health conditions, (2) promoting skill development in core-helping skills, (3) reducing stigma associated with help seeking, and (4) enhancing connection with key campus resources. Some research suggests that "peer support is associated with positive effects of hope, recovery and empowerment at and beyond the end of intervention" [48]. Because of fiscal limitations and pressures on counseling staff, an increasing number of postsecondary institutions are recognizing the advantages of this population-based model to serve the mental health needs of the student community [49]. However, training students to provide peer support will need additional resources like time commitment from counselors, at least initially.

Another population-based approach that was suggested is educating the campus community and other stakeholders, like parents about mental illness and the adverse impact of stigma. Some campus counselors were already engaged in this to some extent. This approach involves conducting workshops for faculty and college staff to respond helpfully to students in trouble, making referrals to college counselors, expanding external referral networks, and serving on college interdisciplinary committees to help in proactively identifying students who are troubled. Counselors also recommended that general practitioners, who see students on a regular basis and prescribe medications, must work more closely with mental health practitioners and refer students with mental health problems to these practitioners.

In addition to the above programs and recommendations, community college counselors can benefit from increased supervision and opportunities for specialized clinical training in areas like trauma-informed practice and suicide prevention. Since community colleges serve a significant number of ethnically diverse and marginalized students, community college counselors must also focus on developing multicultural counseling skills so that these students do not feel disenfranchised in the system. Finally, community college counselors must engage in building reliable partnerships and referral systems with off-campus service providers who can attend to students whose treatment needs exceed campus resources [50]. They must ensure that students referred for services outside of the counseling center are successful in connecting with mental health providers [51].
