UPenn Collaborative Responds to Virginia Tech Tragedy
PHILADELPHIA (4/20/07) – In the aftermath of the tragedy in Blacksburg, Va. – in which a student was responsible for 33 deaths, including his own – the UPenn Collaborative on Community Integration is helping colleges and universities better support students who have mental illnesses.
UPenn Collaborative director Mark Salzer, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, recently completed a survey of college students with mental illnesses that indicates that the stigma associated with mental illness prevents students from seeking help. “Results suggest that lack of knowledge of available mental health services and supports, and fears about discrimination from faculty and other students who might find out about their mental illness, keep college students with mental illnesses from using accommodations,” Salzer said. The study also found that such students are less engaged on college campuses and in the classroom, and feel more alienated from other students and faculty compared to the general student population.
Dr. Salzer concludes that greater support of students with mental illnesses needs to be offered in a more accepting environment, in which having a mental illness is not perceived as a weakness or an indicator of potential violence. “Quality treatment and rehabilitation services are critical for ensuring that students with mental illnesses can successfully live and learn like any other student,” he said.
The UPenn Collaborative is training administrators, faculty and students in such areas as providing – and encouraging students to use – accommodations; getting involved in supported education programs; promoting peer-run campus groups for students with mental illnesses (such as Active Minds on Campus, a Washington-based, student-run mental health awareness, education and advocacy organization); and reducing barriers to students seeking and receiving services. Such barriers include discriminatory policies that require students with mental illnesses to leave campus, and lack of information about available services, as well as stigma and discrimination.
The UPenn Collaborative on Community Integration is the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) (http://www.upennrrtc.org/) for promoting community integration for individuals with psychiatric disabilities. Funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, the UPenn Collaborative is based at the University of Pennsylvania. It is conducted in partnership with the National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse at the Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania, and Horizon House, Inc.
Contact: Katy Kaplan, Coordinator, UPenn Collaborative, 215-746-6713, katykap@mail.med.upenn.edu
Posted by the Clearinghouse
UPenn Collaborative director Mark Salzer, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, recently completed a survey of college students with mental illnesses that indicates that the stigma associated with mental illness prevents students from seeking help. “Results suggest that lack of knowledge of available mental health services and supports, and fears about discrimination from faculty and other students who might find out about their mental illness, keep college students with mental illnesses from using accommodations,” Salzer said. The study also found that such students are less engaged on college campuses and in the classroom, and feel more alienated from other students and faculty compared to the general student population.
Dr. Salzer concludes that greater support of students with mental illnesses needs to be offered in a more accepting environment, in which having a mental illness is not perceived as a weakness or an indicator of potential violence. “Quality treatment and rehabilitation services are critical for ensuring that students with mental illnesses can successfully live and learn like any other student,” he said.
The UPenn Collaborative is training administrators, faculty and students in such areas as providing – and encouraging students to use – accommodations; getting involved in supported education programs; promoting peer-run campus groups for students with mental illnesses (such as Active Minds on Campus, a Washington-based, student-run mental health awareness, education and advocacy organization); and reducing barriers to students seeking and receiving services. Such barriers include discriminatory policies that require students with mental illnesses to leave campus, and lack of information about available services, as well as stigma and discrimination.
The UPenn Collaborative on Community Integration is the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) (http://www.upennrrtc.org/) for promoting community integration for individuals with psychiatric disabilities. Funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, the UPenn Collaborative is based at the University of Pennsylvania. It is conducted in partnership with the National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse at the Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania, and Horizon House, Inc.
Contact: Katy Kaplan, Coordinator, UPenn Collaborative, 215-746-6713, katykap@mail.med.upenn.edu
Posted by the Clearinghouse
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