When Students are Sad and Stay Sad: Best Practices in Advising Students with Depression

67 min – May 24, 2017 (Wednesday)
Panelists: Julie Preece, Scott Hosford, Derek Griner, and Michael Brooks (Brigham Young University)

Students with psychological issues are attending college/university in greater numbers than ever before. These students often take more time to complete their degree than students who do not report mental health issues due to students not seeking mental health support. Students are generally not required to visit with a therapist or Disabilities Services unless seeking treatment or accommodations; however, all students at some time during their college career are required to visit with an academic advisor. As a result, academic advisors often have more interaction with these students than any other professional group on campus. Given this reality, it becomes clear that advisors need to be prepared to serve these students or to refer them to the appropriate service providers. While advisors should not be expected to offer psychological help, it is imperative advisors understand, identify, and are comfortable advising and accommodating students with psychiatric illnesses, such as depression, both in the office and the classroom. In this 60-minute videocast presentation, Julie Preece, Scott Hosford, Derek Griner, and Michael Brooks (Brigham Young University) – all licensed psychologists – focus on encouraging advisors, faculty, and other members of the college community to recognize the signs and symptoms of depression in both male and female students. They explore how such symptoms may impact the student, the advisement session, and performance in the classroom, and they present ideas on how the advisor and/or other college professionals might better inform their practice on advising students who may struggle with this illness and how to ask the most difficult of questions.