Addressing Mental Illness: Cracking the Stigma Barrier at College By Mary Anne...

Addressing Mental Illness: Cracking the Stigma Barrier at College

By Mary Anne Weber, Chair of the Anti-Stigma HOPE Campaign

(Excerpted below, but check out the whole article!)

Another pair of bills by state Sen. Chap Petersen and Del. Timothy Hugo also passed. These would affect four-year public colleges. The legislation provides that the governing board of each public college may establish written memoranda of understanding with its local community services board or behavioral health authority and with local hospitals and other local mental health facilities in order to expand the scope of services available to students seeking treatment. The bill requires each memorandum to designate a contact person to be notified when a student is involuntarily committed or when a student is discharged from a facility and consents to such notification. The bill also require each memorandum to include the institution in the post-discharge planning of a student who has been committed and intends to return to campus, to the extent allowable under state and federal privacy laws.

These laws when signed by the governor should strengthen the communication between community services and colleges, particularly emergency services. While it won't change student or staff attitudes, it will provide one more layer of services for students who at the same time are working to learn and working to recover from illness.

Source: http://www.facebook.com/ChapPetersenVASenator/posts/358278394285487

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