Black UMD students express concerns about mental health in town hall meeting
The Black Mental Health Matters Town Hall event took place in the Nyumburu Cultural Center on Monday for Black students to voice their mental health needs. (Victoria A. Ifatusin/The Black Explosion)
About 10 students attended the first-ever Black Mental Health Matters town hall, which took place in the Nyumburu Cultural Center on Monday.
The University of Maryland Counseling Center teamed up with the Black Graduate Student Union to host the meeting, where Black students suggested mental health services.
The Counseling Center recently released a report that showed only 14% of Black students seek services from the center.
Some of the issues raised by students included the difference between representation of Black counselors at the UMD Counseling Center and Black students at the university.
Sammoya Wright, a junior majoring in public health science on a pre-med track, shared her personal experience of having to look elsewhere for a Black female therapist because the counseling center had few of them.
“I asked for a Black woman,” Wright said. “They told me that they would have to look for places off campus to accommodate my preferences since there currently weren’t enough Black female therapists on campus that I could see regularly.”
She said that this demand causes a longer waitlist at the center.
“You’re gonna get pushed down because there’s not enough faculty,” said Wright.
Chetan Joshi, the director of the Counseling Center, answered students’ questions and concerns during the meeting.
”The goal was really to take the first step in what will hopefully be an ongoing conversation,” said Joshi.
He believes that the collaborations with Black student leaders in organizing these meetings can help address mental health needs that are unique to Black students.
Joshi said University President Darryll Pines’ first initiative to address mental health concerns has caused the Counseling Center to produce a proposal with the Office of Student Affairs.
The proposal contains additions and changes to be made for mental health. Some of the changes include the creation of a case management team, a unified clinical system and an improved mental health transport.
He said that the center is working with multiple student organizations and leaders on campus, including organizations representing minority groups to better address the mental health needs of students from various cultural backgrounds.
President of the Black Graduate Student Union Jehnae Linkins saw the differences in mental health accessibility for Black students after coming from an HBCU to the University of Maryland. (Victoria A. Ifatusin/The Black Explosion)
“We do know that there is still a mental health need that’s out there,” Joshi said. “So the goal is that through these conversations, [we’re] able to establish that relationship, that trust, so that people can access us when they need us.”
Malcolm Woodbury, a senior transfer student studying information systems and supply chain management, said that it’s great the center is starting somewhere. But he expressed concern on having the event take place so late into the semester.
“This is happening in week 13 out of 15 of a fall semester. We should touch on trying to do it at least two times a semester, and more earlier, so as to catch a larger mass of people,” he said.
Other students noted that they don’t know about the services and events held by the Counseling Center, such as Mental Health Awareness week.
Jehnae Linkins, who went to a historically Black university for her undergraduate studies, said that there are stark differences between an HBCU and a predominantly white institution when it comes to mental health.
“Coming from a Black school, all of the resources were there. We didn’t have to go look for it. Just knowing where to go to find these resources is the first hurdle that we have to go through,” she said.
Linkins is a graduate student studying mechanical engineering, and organized the event. She’s one of the Black student leaders working with the Counseling Center to determine the needs of Black students' mental health and how to address their needs.
“Now that I’m engulfed in it, this is making everybody else more aware so everyone else can have the same access that I’m starting to have,” Linkins said.