If the start of classes last week marked a return to Brandeis and not a frantic first year move-in, you may have noticed a change in the services and messaging Brandeis officials are delivering to students. Specifically, the staff in the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, the Brandeis Counseling Center and the Prevention, Advocacy & Resource Center have all taken a look inward and revamped their offices’ student-facing programs, with a focus on accessibility and community. In an open forum held this past March, students demanded better communication and shorter appointment wait times at the BCC, as reported in a March 6 article in the Justice.  The BCC recognized the demands of students from diverse backgrounds by  publishing its resource guide in several languages, including Mandarin. Brandeis students have been demanding longer hours, more accessible counselors and better recognition and outreach to international students. Are these changes substantial and thoughtful enough to celebrate, or are they facelifts that fail to meet students’ needs? 

Addressing students’ day-to-day counseling needs through community therapy is one of the goals Brandeis Counseling Center Director Joy von Steiger outlined in the BCC’s first official newsletter in May. Previously isolated to the Mailman House on Lower Campus, the BCC is placing counselors in residential and academic quads this semester in order to remove barriers to access and destigmatize asking for help. The Justice reported on these “embedded therapists” in March, but the BCC is actively promoting them at events like the Study Abroad Re-Entry Workshop as part of its new strategy this semester. According to Dr. von Steiger, this change puts counselors where they need to be to mitigate the impact of everyday stressors on students.

In order to make its community therapy program as effective as possible, the BCC should work to engage peer groups together. A February 2012 paper in the World Psychiatry Journal analyzed the effectiveness of various aspects of community-based mental health care in the United States and Canada. One of the conclusions the authors made was that peer support is critical to the success of many mental health outcomes. The BCC has expanded to twenty-two therapy and support groups this semester, but only four of those are listed online. Hosting more informal support meetings can drive peer engagement up and fit well within the BCC’s new model but only if the community knows about the events. 

However, not everyone feels included. International students have voiced complaints about a lack of BCC outreach and accessibility, as the Justice noted in a Dec. 10, 2017 article. Dr. Von Stieger addressed this issue by saying that a commitment to multicultural counseling is a “deeply passionate and necessary aspect,” of the BCC’s work, and they are engaging in ongoing trainings with Dr. Brimhall-Vargas and Dr. Livingstone of the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. While the BCC offers counseling in English, Cantonese, Hebrew, Mandarin and Spanish, according to their website, there is no mention of whether non-English language counselors will be stationed around campus.

More casual access is in line with the BCC’s stated “shorter term stabilization model,” which Brandeis is shifting toward in order to care for students’ most immediate mental health needs. The reality is that the short term stabilization model is more financially solvent for Brandeis than a longer term program aimed at getting to the roots of an individual’s mental health challenges. In a November 2017 letter to faculty, staff and students, Brandeis President Ron Liebowitz acknowledged that Brandeis is “losing net tuition dollars” operating at its current size and complexity. Liebowitz’s biggest point was that the University’s resources are limited and must be used sparingly. By focusing on addressing immediate concerns and easing students’ daily lives, the BCC is making the most of a limited set of resources and fulfilling its role appropriately by focusing on creating a more positive mental health community on campus. Rather than trying to be the foundation for a lifelong mental health journey, the BCC now seeks simply to address issues as they occur on campus. Some students will require more intensive personal care that falls outside the scope of the BCC.

Previously known as the Rape Crisis Center since opening in 2015, the campus office responsible for sexual assault awareness and response has rebranded as the Prevention, Advocacy & Resource Center, or PARC. According to a March 10, 2015 article in the Justice, the original idea for the RCC was proposed by Brandeis Students Against Sexual Violence members. This change was much-needed and should be welcomed by Brandeis students. By naming the office after the most traumatic experience anyone could face, the RCC limited its perceived use to a set of horrible circumstances and potentially triggered sexual assault survivors. The name PARC puts an emphasis on education and prevention as the critical first step rather than as a resource to contact in the aftermath. PARC will still offer Bystander training to all students, and the curriculum has been updated.

As President Liebowitz emphasized last November, the University’s immediate strategy is to work smarter, not harder, adapting current resources to students’ needs rather than creating new ones. The changes to the Brandeis Counseling Center and the Prevention, Advocacy & Resource Center are admirable steps to focus resources based on students’ needs. There is still room to improve the BCC’s outreach to international students, and time will tell if PARC is able to expand its on-campus presence as a resource for education.