Mental Health
This episode focuses on Temple’s counseling team and advice on how to take care of your mental health.
Show Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ANNOUNCER: Hello, and welcome to this episode
of "The T in Teaching".
This episode is focused on maintaining your mental health
through a college semester.
In this episode, our host Gabby Gutierrez
interviewed Dr. Andrew Lee.
Dr. Andrew Lee currently serves as the Director
of Tuttleman Counseling Services at Temple University.
In this role, he serves as the Chief Mental Health Officer
for the University and provides leadership and oversight
over the center's core functions of direct clinical services,
educational outreach, consultation to the University
community, and clinical training of graduate level staff.
Prior to Temple, he served as the Director
of Counseling and Psychological Services
at Monmouth University and the Director
of Counseling and Disability Services at Kean University.
Dr. Lee received his BA in psychology
from the University of Pennsylvania and MA
in clinical psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University
and his PsyM and PsyD from the Clinical Psychology School
at Rutgers University.
His clinical specialty is working
with young adults who are struggling with integrating
distinct worlds and multiple voices
into a cohesive and satisfying personal experience
as they develop their adult selves.
Thank you for listening, and please enjoy.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
GABBY GUTIERREZ: Welcome to the podcast.
I'm Gabby Gutierrez.
I have here Dr. Andrew Lee from the Tuttleman Counseling
Center.
Thank you for being here.
ANDREW LEE: Thank you for having me.
GABBY GUTIERREZ: So this episode really focuses on Temples
counseling team and advice on how to take
care of your mental health.
If you can tell me a little bit more
about Tuttleman Counseling-- what services do
they offer to the Temple community?
Like, could you describe some of their functions
and their mission and goal?
ANDREW LEE: Sure.
So Tuttleman Counseling Services is
the comprehensive mental health treatment
arm of the University.
So our mission is to provide culturally sensitive
mental health services that support
the psychological health of the diverse community of Temple
students and thereby their academic success.
So we understand that every student presents with differing
needs and resources.
And so every student can benefit from different services.
So we use a personalized care continuum
when considering what services to offer students.
This continuum can include a variety of different things,
such as an interactive self-directed education
and support and information, peer support programs,
guided self-help workshops, therapy groups,
short-term individual therapy, psychiatric evaluations
and medication monitoring, or referrals for longer term
or more intensive treatment.
So we try to really personalize the services
that we offer to students.
GABBY GUTIERREZ: Can you talk a bit more about the Tuttleman
Center and what services that students might not know about?
ANDREW LEE: Sure.
One of the things that I think students don't really
know about is the Resiliency Resource Center.
It's what we used to call the self-help library,
but we do much more than that.
We provide workshops on topics such as time management, stress
management, and mindfulness.
And we have things like a massage chair
that students can use.
We have a light box and we have biofeedback machines that
are really useful for students.
And I think this is something that students really don't
know that we offer at TCS.
Two new things that we are offering now
is something called Well Track Boost.
Well Track Boost is an online self-directed therapy program
that is really designed to help students
deal with issues that they might have with anxiety
and depression at their own pace, at their own time,
and in a place that's convenient for them.
So they can really do things when they want.
And that's something that I think
is really important for students.
But that when you log on and you log on on welltrack-boost.com
and you log in using your Temple email address,
and it's free to use, and you can log in and then it will ask
you to complete what they call a wellness assessment,
which asks you a number of different questions across
a wide variety of different wellness domains.
And then from there, there are different modules
that you use to deal with, again, anxiety, depression,
public speaking issues, and really
help you improve your sleep.
There's also my personal favorite,
which is the Zen Room.
The Zen Room is a guided meditation experience.
It only takes about two minutes and it
can help you feel a lot better.
So that's something that I think students
don't know about as well.
And we have one final thing, which is called Together All.
Together All is a peer-to-peer online mental health
community that is really designed
to be there whenever you want.
They have, I think, about 40 million users on the platform
so that they really have any one online and present
to talk to have a conversation with a peer
because we know sometimes it's better to talk
with a peer than others.
And it's really there to help you talk about whatever issues
might be important to you.
So again, you can register online
at togetherall.com and using your Temple email address.
And again, this is another free service
that I don't think students really know about.
GABBY GUTIERREZ: I didn't even hear about it
and I'm excited to try it.
ANDREW LEE: Absolutely.
GABBY GUTIERREZ: That's great to hear.
Could you go further into what are some key challenges or even
trends that you noticed in college students mental health?
Overall, in the past few years there's
definitely been some changes.
And how has your programs adapted
to addressing these issues?
ANDREW LEE: Sure.
So Temple is consistent with national norms in that we're
seeing students presenting with greater
levels of clinical acuity or more serious
mental health concerns than in the past.
And there are a variety of factors
that can account for this, including societal factors.
And the fact that students are receiving support services
much earlier on in their academic careers, which
allow them to actually attend college.
In the past, many of the students
that are attending colleges now might not
have been able to attend.
But these increased supports have
made it possible for these types of students to attend college.
So that's one trend that we're definitely seeing.
And in order to manage a lot of the issues from COVID,
we've really begun to offer services
in a variety of different formats.
So prior to March 2020, I had never, ever
conducted a telehealth visit before in any
of the clinical settings I've been in.
Now, I can envision not having that as a possible option
to support students.
In addition to that, we have online programs
and these interactive self-help programs.
So we're really trying to give students
what they need in formats that are useful for them
and that they can find helpful.
GABBY GUTIERREZ: Yeah, that's fair.
there's A lot of people with different needs and flexibility
in what they need in their own mental support.
Because many college campuses--
Temple is home to a lot of diverse students.
How does your program ensure that it is culturally sensitive
and is inclusive in providing the mental health support
to a wide range of students?
ANDREW LEE: Sure.
So we are really intentional in our hiring practices
and we seek out applicants from diverse backgrounds
because we know that for mental health services especially,
it's really important to try to see someone that looks like you
because then it feels like they might understand
you a little bit better or have similar backgrounds.
Again, that's not always the case
but it definitely can help.
And we continue as a center to engage
in practices and trainings that center
around people's backgrounds and histories so we really
recognize the importance of understanding
our own identities and histories and the impact that they
can have on the therapeutic experience.
So we've really changed the way that we
view the practice of therapy.
So we understand that clinicians are not
robots in the absence of context,
both personal and societal, and that this context can really
impact the relationship and the treatment.
So it's important to consider that.
And that's what we do at Tuttleman Counseling.
GABBY GUTIERREZ: That's wonderful.
It's the human touch that always matters.
How does the counseling program collaborate with other campus
departments or other resources to create this holistic support
system for students?
And what partnerships have been particularly successful
in this regard?
ANDREW LEE: Sure.
So one of the newest things that we have done as a university,
in fact, is the creation of the new health and well-being
division.
So the new division linked many of the student support
services including Tuttleman Counseling Services,
Health Services, and the Wellness
Resources under one division.
So because of this, this is really streamlined
and optimized communication and collaboration
between the offices.
So that's been really useful.
One example of that is that now health services is doing
a mental health screening for their physical health
visits because we know that mental health concerns can
present and show up in a variety of different places.
So that's really again, an important thing
to really track those multiple domains.
GABBY GUTIERREZ: You went about explaining a little bit more
about physical exam.
But what about during the semester for students
that are feeling burnt out already
or overwhelmed with their workload,
what are some strategies that they
can implement to manage their stress,
especially mid-semester?
ANDREW LEE: Sure.
This sounds maybe kind of simple but one of the most important
things is to breathe.
That oftentimes when we get anxious,
when we get upset, when we get stressed out,
our breathing changes.
It gets much faster.
It gets more shallow.
And that's the opposite of actually what's helpful.
So taking that time to take a deep, intentional breath--
some can call it a mindfulness practice--
to really stay in the moment, to center yourself,
to recognize and realize that what
you can deal with in the moment, that you can't address all
of the things that you might want to change or all
of the assignments and all of the projects that you want to
or have to get to, but that rather it's important to really
remain focused that you're here right now
and staying in that present moment.
And sometimes taking a short break from work to regroup
can be really useful.
And I know this might sound a little cliche
but that self-care is really important
being able to get enough sleep because we know that college
students don't sleep enough.
Most people don't sleep enough.
GABBY GUTIERREZ: We're running on caffeine and energy drinks.
ANDREW LEE: Absolutely.
And we know most people don't sleep enough.
But that not sleeping enough, not eating,
that's what happens when you get really stressed out.
So taking that time knowing the importance of getting
enough sleep and eating healthy meals, regular meals,
doing those things can really help you feel better.
And when you feel better, you can do more.
And that's the thing that I would really
encourage students to focus on and remember,
that they need to feel better in order
to be able to offer the best of themselves.
GABBY GUTIERREZ: You mentioned about the care team.
Could you talk a little bit more about that?
ANDREW LEE: Sure.
The care team is a multidisciplinary team
of Temple professionals who are designed
to really help students that might be struggling.
I sit on the care team.
We meet weekly to discuss student concerns
or students of concern and how we can best help them.
So this is another collaboration that I
think is incredibly important to the University
and to helping students and their success.
GABBY GUTIERREZ: Amazing.
How can professors gauge their students stress levels best?
Like, how can they help students especially
in the middle of semester manage their stress?
ANDREW LEE: Sure.
So when I speak with professors, I
think the most important thing is
to look at and think about change.
So if a student is presenting differently
than they have in the past, I think
that that is a marker that something might be going on.
So that it's really important at that point for the professors
to be able to have the conversation to let
the student know that they're noticing
that something might be up.
And that it's really helpful to know that for students
to know that professors are willing to listen
and that they care about them.
Because isn't really that what we
all want and really need to know that somebody is there
and that they care?
And so I think it's really important for professors
to be able to express those concerns in a way that doesn't
feel like they're shaming them or blaming them,
but rather in a way that says, listen, I'm here to help.
I'm here to support.
I can maybe guide you in a direction
that can be useful for you.
So, let's talk about it.
I think that's really important.
And also I think that, again, giving students resources.
That's why TCS exists, to be able to really help
students be the best students that they can.
And professors can be a really important bridge
to helping us be able to connect with those students
and those students to connect with us.
GABBY GUTIERREZ: Very much the first line of defense.
Do you have any other suggestions?
ANDREW LEE: Sure.
I think taking some time to write things down on paper
is really helpful for students because then they
can see how much time things might take,
how much time they need, and where
they can fit those things into their schedule.
What we would call "time blocking".
But I think one of the more important things about time
blocking is that sometimes we create things in our minds
that are oftentimes so much bigger than the reality
of the situation.
So putting it down on paper, seeing it in black and white
can really help you and can help students understand, wait,
it's really not as bad as I thought it was.
And that can help them feel a lot better.
GABBY GUTIERREZ: I remember using that technique a lot
when I was in college, seeing it there, seeing
and believing that it's OK.
I appreciate you being here to tell us
this plethora of information about the service on Temple's
campus.
Thank you for being here at this podcast.
It was great having you.
ANDREW LEE: Thank you so much.
Really appreciate it.
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