Hal Higdon, Chancellor of Ozarks Technical Community College,a two-year college in Springfield, ... [+]
Recognizing the psychological distress and mental health problems caused by the worsening Covid-19 pandemic, Ozarks Technical Community College (OTC), a public two-year institution in Springfield, Missouri, will provide free behavioral health services to all its students and employees, beginning December 1.
OTC, which enrolls more than 11,000 students on its six centers and campuses in southwest Missouri will partner with Springfield-based Burrell Behavioral Health, a comprehensive community mental health center serving more than 40,000 clients across 17 Missouri counties, to offer the six-month pilot project. All OTC students and employees will be covered, including part-time students, staff and adjunct instructors.
According to the Springfield News Leader, as part of the partnership, Burrell will provide the following:
- A part-time mental health counselor at the OTC Springfield Campus.
- A part-time mental health counselor at the OTC Republic Center who will also provide telehealth counseling to students at OTC locations in Lebanon and Waynesville, Missouri.
- Up to five counseling sessions for part-time staff and faculty. If more sessions are needed, individuals will coordinate them on their own.
What distinguishes the new partnership is its focus on part-time students and faculty, many of whom are struggling with particularly difficult economic hardships and other barriers due to the pandemic. Although OTC has employed two full-time counselors on its Springfield campus, they have been available only to students and do not offer long-term therapy. Full-time employees have been able to receive up to five mental health sessions as part of the college's insurance policy. But now everyone at the institution, from the student taking just one class to the adjunct instructor teaching a single course, will be able to access behavioral health services.
Tracy McGrady, OTC provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, said the institution wanted to offer more help to part-time employees including adjunct instructors. "We rely so much on our adjunct faculty to carry out the business of the institution. We felt this partnership with Burrell would be a great way to support that group, as we do our full-time faculty. To be able to offer this is just a huge win," McGrady said.
Joan Barrett, OTC’s vice chancellor for student affairs, said the pandemic revealed the need for more behavioral health resources and that unmet needs were contributing to more students finding it difficult to stay in school and be successful.
“These are stressful times for everyone, and this partnership with Burrell is a cost-effective method to provide enhanced mental health services to our students and employees,” Barrett told the News Leader.
That sentiment was echoed by OTC Chancellor Hal Higdon, who told me, “Although the pandemic highlighted the profound importance of these services, the need was there before the pandemic, and it will be there after the pandemic. I am pleased OTC was able to use its CARES funding to create this vital, new service.”
The cost of the partnership is estimated at $80,000 for the six-month pilot, which will be paid for by funds from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES, Act. If an evaluation proves the pilot to have been successful, Higdon plans to convert it to a permanent arrangement, which will be paid for out of OTC’s recurring budget.
Burrell officials also view the partnership as an important extension of their services. Dustin Brown, vice president of integration at Burrell, is quoted by the News Leader as saying, “the ability to provide mental health access to college students and employees in the campus setting, where they are most comfortable and reachable, is vital to the long-term health of these populations.”
He continued, "during the pandemic, what we saw was a dramatic increase in anxiety based around insecurity — whether they were on a campus and exposed to Covid, being displaced and trying to do distance learning and figuring that out for the first time when campuses went all online, and trying to balance a home life and school without the in-person support they are used to.”
Because the new services will be available through either in-person sessions or tele-therapy, students and employees will be able to be served regardless of whether they are physically on campus or participating in work and study remotely.
Mental health problems have long been known to be a serious concern on American campuses. Now, the pandemic has accelerated them to a crisis level. Whether through something like the OTC/Burrell model or through system-wide efforts being undertaken in states like Georgia, CARES Act funding can be used to develop systems of behavioral health care that now need to be treated as a priority for every higher eduction institution.
