Mental Health

Audio Transcript

00:08–00:39Andrew ColettiHello 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 of the university community and clinical training of graduate level staff. 

00:39–01:12Andrew ColettiPrior 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 M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University and Psy. M. and Psy. D. 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. 

01:12–01:16Andrew ColettiThank you for listening and please enjoy. 

01:21–01:27Gabby GutierrezWelcome to the podcast. I am Gabby Gutierrez. I have here Dr. Andrew Lee from the Tuttleman Council Center. Thank you for being here. 

01:28–01:29Andrew Lee, Psy. DThank you for having me. 

01:29–01:44Gabby GutierrezSo this episode really focuses on Temple's counseling team and advice on how to take care of your mental health. If you can tell me a little bit more about how the Tuttleman counseling, what services do they offer to the temple community; Could you describe some of the their functions and their mission and goal? 

01:45–02:10Andrew Lee, Psy. DSure. 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. 

02:10–02:45Andrew Lee, Psy. DSo, 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 a longer term or more intensive treatment. So, we try to really personalize the services that we offer to students. 

02:45–02:51Gabby GutierrezCan you talk a bit more about the Tuttleman Center and what services that students might not know about? 

02:51–03:15Andrew Lee, Psy. DSure. 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. 

03:16–03:48Andrew Lee, Psy. DAnd I think this is something that students really don't know that we offer at TCS to 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. 

03:48–04:14Andrew Lee, Psy. DAnd that's something that I think is really important for students, but that when you log on and you log onwelltrack-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. 

04:14–04:39Andrew Lee, Psy. DAnd then from 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 2 minutes, and it can help you feel a lot better. So that's something that I think students don't know about as well. 

04:39–05:17Andrew Lee, Psy. DAnd 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 anyone 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. 

05:17–05:28Andrew Lee, Psy. DSo again, you can register online at together all dot com and using your temple email address. And again, this is another free service that I don't think students really know about. 

05:28–05:30Gabby GutierrezI haven’t even heard about it and I'm excited to try it. 

05:31–05:33Andrew Lee, Psy. DAbsolutely. 

05:33–05:47Gabby GutierrezThat's great to hear. Could you go further into what are some key challenges or even trends that you notice in college students’ mental health overall in the past few years, there's definitely been some changes and like, how has your programs adapted to addressing these issues? 

05:48–06:13Andrew Lee, Psy. DSure. 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. 

06:13–06:38Andrew Lee, Psy. DIn 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 with COVID, we've really begun to offer services in a variety of different formats. 

06:38–07:04Andrew Lee, Psy. DSo, prior to March 2020, I had never, ever conducted a telehealth visit before in any of the clinical settings I'd been in. Now, I can't 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. 

07:05–07:23Gabby GutierrezYeah, that's fair is a lot of people different needs and flexibility and what they need in their own mental support. Like 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? 

07:24–07:49Andrew Lee, Psy. DSure. 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. And that's not always the case, but it definitely can help. 

07:49–08:16Andrew Lee, Psy. DAnd we continue as a center to engage in practices and training 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. 

08:16–08:29Andrew Lee, Psy. DIn 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 treatment counseling. 

08:29–08:45Gabby GutierrezThat's wonderful. It's the human touch, those 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? 

08:45–09:12Andrew Lee, Psy. DSure. 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 to many of the student support services, including Tuttleman Counseling services, health services and the wellness resources under one division. So because of this, this really streamlined and optimized communication and collaboration between the offices. 

09:12–09:34Andrew Lee, Psy. DSo 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. 

09:34–09:47Gabby GutierrezYou want to explain a little bit more about physical exam, but what about during the semester? Four students 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? 

09:47–10:29Andrew Lee, Psy. DSure, 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 

10:29–10:54Andrew Lee, Psy. Dto 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. 

10:54–10:56Andrew Lee, Psy. DMost people don't sleep enough. But we know. 

10:56–10:57Gabby GutierrezThat caffeine and energy drinks. 

10:57–11:32Andrew Lee, Psy. DAbsolutely. 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. 

11:33–11:36Gabby GutierrezYou mentioned about the care team. Can you talk a little bit more about that? 

11:36–12:07Andrew Lee, Psy. DSure. The care team is a multidisciplinary team of temple professionals who are designed to really help students that might be struggling. So we meet and I sit on the care team. We meet weekly to discuss student concerns or students of concern. That and how we can best help them. So, this is another collaboration that I think is incredibly important to the university and to how helping students and their success. 

12:08–12:17Gabby GutierrezAmazing. How can professors gauge their students stress levels best? Like, how can they help students, especially in the middle semester, manage their stress? 

12:17–13:00Andrew Lee, Psy. DSure. 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 

13:00–13:19Andrew Lee, Psy. Dthat 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. 

13:20–13:44Andrew Lee, Psy. DSo, let's talk about it. And I think that's really important. And also, I think that, again, giving students resources, that's why it 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. 

13:44–13:48Gabby GutierrezVery much the first line of defense. Do you have any other suggestions? 

13:48–14:16Andrew Lee, Psy. DSure. 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. 

14:16–14:29Andrew Lee, Psy. DSo, 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. 

14:30–14:45Gabby GutierrezI am using that technique a lot. And when I was in college, see, they saw and believed that's okay. 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. 

14:46–15:01Andrew Lee, Psy. DThank you so much. Really appreciate it.