ESG all-student meeting productive
On Sunday, students gathered in a circle outside of the Bolling Center, enjoying the weather and discussing important issues about mental/emotional health resources at Earlham. Currently, our college has one of the worst student-to-counselor ratios in the Great Lakes College Association (GLCA). Furthermore, some of the resources that are available are underutilized, understaffed, or under-trained.
By organizing this all-student gathering, ESG hoped to share information about the current formal and informal services available to students such as Counseling Services, Campus Ministries, Student Development, the Advocates, The Kai Circle, faculty and peers. Britney Smith introduced herself and the new peer support network she has organized called The Kai Circle. While this group has yet to be trained and institutionalized, in the meantime it is a group of caring students who are willing to listen to anyone in need.
Such improvement in peer support resources was one of many suggestions made during the meeting. Other suggestions included hiring more counselors, providing transportation to resources off campus, better faculty training, and more comprehensive advertisement of current resources. The positive is that there are a plethora of ideas and individuals looking to address the current mental health regime. However, it is problematic that these different movements lack unity and cohesiveness to tackle the deeper issues.
It’s clear that in order to ensure change, Earlham needs to come together to form a standing committee. Such a committee would be charged with reviewing the mental health policy on campus, and with finding creative solutions to whatever issues they uncover. It would draw upon impassioned students and faculty to try and institutionalize the changes sought by the Kai Circle and others in order to assure that Earlham College has the resources that are expected of a College that claims to have “a supportive, residential community.” Especially in the wake of the tragedies on our own campus and around the country, like at Virginia Tech, we can do no less.
We invite you to complete the survey you received in your email concerning mental and emotional health services at Earlham or send us your thoughts at ESG@earlham.edu. More importantly, we urge you to continue discussing, reflecting upon, and committing yourselves to this issue that affects us all so profoundly. For more information about starting/joining this proposed committee, please contact us!
Submitted by a representative of the Earlham Student Government.
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