The University of Idaho Counseling and Testing Center (CTC) hired a new board-certified psychiatric nurse practitioner in August after five months with no full-time psychiatric care-provider. Three new staff members were also hired late summer.
The newly hired practitioner, Clint Emmett, began seeing patients in mid-August. He will work year-round with an estimated 375 students to prescribe treatments and field questions about psychiatric treatment options, CTC Director Greg Lambeth said.
The CTC currently has 17 full-time clinicians with the additions of Emmett and other new staff members.
“Emmett will also be working with us on some of our outreach and programming around stigma and help-seeking behaviors as well,” Lambeth said. “He’s very excited about being out in the campus community, meeting with student groups, doing presentations and interacting with students in various ways.”
The former psychiatric nurse practitioner, Jennifer Wilkinson, resigned last March, leaving a vacancy which took the university five months to fill. During this transition period, recent UI retiree and board-certified psychiatrist William Cone returned March 18 with a contract to provide part-time psychiatric services on campus two days a week through the end of August. The CTC also partnered with Moscow Family Medicine and Gritman Medical Center to ensure complete service, Lambeth said.
The average wait-time for a counseling appointment at the CTC is currently two weeks, with over 1,300 students served and 10,000 appointments scheduled each year, he said.
Wait times can vary day-to-day based on openings and cancellations.
There are additional resources available to promote health and safety for campus community members. In addition to scheduled appointments, the CTC has a clinician specifically assigned to meet with students for walk-ins nine hours a day. In the case of a crisis occurring after hours or on a weekend, students have phone access to 24-hour clinicians if they call the CTC main phone line. In these instances, the CTC will reach out to follow up with students the next day it is open.
“There’s a program we contract with to provide this overnight coverage,” Dean of Students Blaine Eckles said. “If the student calls in at 2 a.m., they can talk to someone (a clinician) on the phone, then that person will typically send a report back out to the counseling center the next day for additional follow-up.”
If a student sees a campus community member in distress or danger, they can file a VandalCARE Report online or via phone, processed through the Dean of Students Office.
“We have staff that are designed to immediately review those (care reports) and follow up and respond,” Eckles said. “Many times students don’t know how to help someone, but they want to let someone know, they just don’t know how to do it. Filing a care report is really important.”’
Every September, the CTC partners with Vandal Health Education, the Women’s Center and the Dean of Students Office to recognize National Campus Safety Awareness Month to host a series of events, workshops and presentations around campus. This year, the university renamed September Katy Benoit Campus Safety Awareness Month to honor former student Katy Benoit, a victim of interpersonal violence.
This week is also National Suicide Prevention Week. Vandal Health Education and other campus organizations have partnered to organize several health and safety events.
“As Vandals we look out for one another. We’re a part of the Vandal family,” said Eckles. “Students are a huge part of helping address the mental health concerns we have here on campus, so if they see something, they need to say something.”
Ellen Dennis can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @edennis37