Seung-Hui Cho, English senior at Virginia Tech, shot and killed 32 people before killing himself one year ago today – a date that will be etched into the minds of college students for years to come. As time progressed, more information about the 23-year-old killer was revealed, including a past of mental instability. Since then, discussions about gun control and mental health have hovered around college campuses. Drayton Vincent, clinical director at the Student Health Center, said even before the shootings at Virginia Tech, he noticed an increase of students seeking mental health counseling at the University. “Several things are going on,” he said. “Mental health treatment and counseling is more acceptable than 20 years ago. A lot of time we’ll have some students that have had counseling services when they were in high school, and so it’s easier for them to come when they’re in college.” Vincent also attributes the increasing number of students seeking treatment to the ever-growing amount of academic and financial pressures they experience every day. Vincent said the Student Health Center has received more consultation calls with faculty and staff who are concerned about the mental health of their students. A broad spectrum of students seek mental health treatment at LSU. “I have talked to younger students, and I have also talked to some faculty and staff about some older students,” Vincent said. “But I think it’s important to know: Is it an adjustment issue with a younger student? Or is it an older student with some problems that had been developing for a long time?” Brij Mohan, social work professor, researches mental health with a comparative-analytical focus. Mohan said he has not noticed many professors being more watchful of their students since the famed college shootings. Mohan said professors who encounter a seemingly troubled or dangerous student should refrain from demonizing the individual and remember not to panic. “This will be counter productive,” he said. “Professors should recognize their role as mentors and advisers rather than authorities which invoke fear and contempt. I refuse to emulate the ‘police’ model.” Dean of Students KC White said the key to LSU’s support of its students’ mental health is on-going orientation and awareness. “It’s the entire University’s responsibility in terms of campus safety,” she said. “We have safety awareness seminars, and they are a way to make people aware of the resources that are available on campus.” Juan Barthelemy, assistant social work professor, researches adolescent aggression and school violence. He said reactions to students who seem troubled vary among professors. “One of the things that I think we could do is if they don’t feel comfortable talking to the student, and they feel like it’s imminent, they should call campus police immediately,” he said. “If the student is calm enough to talk to them, they should refer them to the services they offer on campus.” Barthelemy said he suggests if a professor meets with a troubled student, they should alert other faculty or staff about the meeting, so someone else knows that it’s going on. He also said professors should take students seriously when they make threats or exhibit erratic behavior. “We can’t afford to ignore that,” he said. “And it does manifest itself later on as something that could have been avoided.” Barthelemy said in most large-scale school shootings, he has noticed a pattern that the killers have acted out in some way in the past as a cry for help. When they did not receive proper care, their behaviors became more severe. Vincent said the clinicians at the Student Health Center highly value confidentiality as part of their professional code of ethics. But when a student is deemed an imminent and foreseeable danger, it is a clinician’s responsibility to breach that confidentiality for the patient’s safety. In these situations, he said the clinicians often offer to involve other people, like parents or friends, in the treatment process. “What I’m trying to tell the student is the more close people that are involved in his support group or her support group, the more help we can offer the student,” he said. Vincent said it is also the clinician’s obligation to warn any intended victims of threats, talk to the police and inform the patient of their actions.
—-Contact Angelle Barbazon at [email protected]