LCC is expanding mental health resources. Is it enough for struggling students?

By Karina Hartley
Staff Reporter

As our nation trends towards higher anxiety levels and growing concerns about mental health, the country’s college students are feeling it. A 2020 survey of Michigan community college students found that 52% of respondents were experiencing anxiety or depression, and 55% of those students were not receiving treatment for it. Mental illness often comes with far-reaching consequences that can erode the quality of relationships, success in school and one’s capacity to care for themselves or even to stay alive.

Louise Rabidoux, one of LCC’s counselors, discussed some trends she has encountered in her 28 years at LCC. She discussed how at the college and national level, there’s been a shift in mental health concerns from depression to anxiety. “Anxiety is really almost like an epidemic,” she shared, “everything from generalized anxiety, to panic attacks, to social anxiety.”

Rabidoux said that she notices anxiety impacting students’ ability to maintain their workload as well as relationships with friends and family. Rabidoux shared her thoughts on what may have brought about this anxious trend. “It's complex, but certainly the pandemic has shifted some things,” she said. She also named social media, the internet, and constant access to news and information as possible contributing factors. “Humans weren't developed to know about every single trauma and catastrophe or world event happening every single day across the globe,” Rabidoux stated.

As a student, juggling mental health and basic needs is often challenging or impossible to untangle from the academic responsibilities of student life. Annalyse Fosket, a pre-nursing student, shared that the high stakes of her rigorous program add layers of anxiety, as failure to hit certain percentages on exams will cause students to be forced to restart the entire program. “If I get a depressive episode, I'm getting dropped from my nursing program, and I'm somebody that has a depressive episode pretty frequently.” Fosket said.

The college is aware of the students’ need for mental health resources and continues to work towards filling those gaps, with a one-time appropriation from the State of Michigan of over $900,000 towards expanding mental health resources this year. Ronda Miller, LCC’s dean of student affairs, said that students have made it known that mental health has been their biggest hurdle for success, as reported over two semesters of surveys.  “We also have a counseling center,” Miller said, “and we can tell by the number of appointment requests that students have a need for mental health services.” Miller sees counseling as part of supporting students not just as learners but also as people. “We want to be able to support them so students could be successful in the classroom and outside of the classroom,” she said.

The counseling center currently has four licensed mental health counselors serving students. Louise Rabidoux, one of LCC’s counselors, explained that students get to choose which counselor that they want to speak with and make follow up appointments. She shared that students also have the option to meet up to weekly as availability allows—as long as they are a currently enrolled student— as a benefit of their tuition, so there are no additional fees.

The college has continued to expand its counseling and therapy resources, Miller discussed LCC’s new partnership with Uwill, which began this spring. Uwill is an app that offers students access to therapists licensed in Michigan. “Students also have an opportunity to read the bios of the therapist, so they can pick and choose what kind of specialty someone has, if it aligns with what they need.” Dean Miller said. The app is available 24/7 to fill in the hours that the counseling center is not open. Each student at LCC is allotted up to three free virtual appointments. However, students are still experiencing a gap in getting the mental health help that they need. Of students interviewed by LCC, 62% say that they have heard about the counseling center, but only 14% of students have actually used this resource, and 24% say that have not heard of it.

Fosket is familiar with the counseling center and shared some of what her experience looked like with them. “I've had nothing but good experiences with the counseling center,” Fosket said. “There's just only so much that they can do.” She cited the challenges of starting with a new counselor as a barrier. “It's really hard to get somebody that can actually help you when they just met you five minutes ago and they don't know anything about you other than you're a student at LCC utilizing the fact that they're a resource.”

For a student using the counseling center, rehashing not only who you are as a person but also the trauma that you have experienced can be a traumatic experience in and of itself, and, as Fosket states, it can bring little reward. “I have to sit here and relive everything just to get that little minimal understanding, let alone get me closer to where I want to be after that meeting,” Fosket said.

Fosket also shared that one of the downsides of the counseling center is their capacity to only be there for students during the weekdays within their operating hours, and felt that the weight of the off hours left a gap in which students were struggling. While the Uwill app attempts to close this gap, it again presents the same issue Fosket explained of having to rehash trauma with a new person to get a bit of help during an already challenging time.

Systemic disadvantages, trauma history, and even the responsibilities of being a functioning member of society can all put a student into a state of distress. Many students lack the resources to meet basic needs, which interferes with success in school and other areas of life, and exacerbates or creates mental health troubles. The Hope Center’s 2023-2024 Student Basic Needs Survey indicated that 71% of students experiencing clinically significant mental health symptoms also struggle with food insecurity, housing insecurity, or homelessness.

Elizabeth Sheets, a student who is on the pre-nursing track, reflected on her time as a homeless student attending LCC. “There wasn't a lot for me here. And again, that's not really the college's responsibility, but it would have been nice if I could have found a place to get some like shampoo, conditioner.”

The college is aware that students struggle with meeting their basic needs. In fact, understanding that struggle was part of President Steve Robinson’s presidential goals for 2025. The college has made access to  basic needs available, including a food pantry available to currently enrolled LCC students on Mondays from 11:30 to 1:30. The academic success coaches also maintain a hygiene closet in the success coach lounge that students can access by asking staff on the success coach team.

Though the pool of resources the college is putting toward student mental health is growing, comments from multiple students interviewed both on and off the record for this article indicated that students feel that they are either not made aware enough of these resources, or that there are not enough resources to begin with.

Specifically, Fosket wanted more support in the unique program of study she was in. “I wish that there were more resources specifically for certain majors because of the extra stressors that come in with those majors, especially nursing,” Fosket explained.  Helping people is clearly important to Fosket, who stated that it was part of why she selected nursing as her major. “We want to be the help that we don't get,” she said.

Another layer of the disconnect lies in the hurdle of not only knowing what resources are available, but having the adequate time to access them. “I need to prioritize getting a hold of the LCC Adult Resources Department because I know they can provide me some accommodations if I show them my paperwork, but I just haven't gotten around to doing that yet,” Sheets explained.

Fosket elaborated that paperwork, such as those for accommodations for disabilities, can be a major hurdle, and wished that LCC would “[make]it easier for students that are in the process of getting those accommodations figured out, because it's not easy.” She elaborated on the many, often prolonged steps that make this process even more challenging, on top of navigating other responsibilities. “I have to jump through insurance hurdles. I have to get permission. I have to wait six months to get that next appointment,” Fosket said.

Many students’ comments also touched on the importance of community as a resource, and what efforts the college could make to foster camaraderie and create a warm campus where students want to be. They seek spaces where they feel empowered to connect with one another and support each other.

It is clear that the web of obstacles that students have to navigate is complex and unique to each individual. And while LCC strives to guide students through those challenges, there are still places where resources are falling short or getting lost in communication.