Managing Student Mental Health at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Publication Date: 2016
Tag(s): crisis intervention and response, HBCU, mental health, strategies
Author(s): Historically Black Colleges and Universities - Law Enforcement Executives and Administrators (HBCU-LEEA), National Center for Campus Public Safety (NCCPS), the National Center for Campus Public Safety (NCCPS)
Abstract: Student mental health programs and services are in large demand at institutions of higher education throughout the United States, and many are facing substantial challenges in meeting that demand. Those challenges, in turn, have many colleges and universities re-evaluating their services to prevent and intervene in incidents involving persons with mental health concerns. To learn more about the specific challenges campuses face related to preventing and intervening in incidents involving persons with mental health concerns, the National Center for Campus Public Safety partnered with the Historically Black Colleges and Universities-Law Enforcement Executives and Administrators to facilitate a forum on July 12, 2016. Forum participants identified the following six broad categories of challenges, and several recommendations to address these challenges: human resource needs, training needs, policy needs, procedural issues, communication obstacles, and cultural barriers.