Aug. 26, 2024

Ferris State students gaining greater access to mental wellness support through partnership with Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services

Ferris State University students will have greater access to mental wellness support through a partnership with Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services.

Personal Counseling Center Director Andy Slater said this partnership helps his department and Birkam Health Center meet a longstanding goal. The weekly no-cost sessions with psychiatrist Dr. Jayanthi Peters are available to students who receive referrals. The service starts with the fall semester.

“This partnership will help us increase the level of support and benefit for our students,” Slater said. “We are moving to a place of better collaboration to address the whole range of student needs to help them be successful.”

A growing number of college students nationwide are struggling with mental wellness, according to the American Psychological Association. The organization pointed to a 2021 Healthy Minds Study of 373 campuses that indicated more than 60 percent of college students nationwide met the criteria for at least one mental health problem.

Slater said Birkam Health Center staff and his counselors are ready to enter an awareness campaign to inform students struggling with securing psychiatric care through public agencies.

“Community Mental Health in our area often requires Medicaid coverage as part of their referral process and is not able to accept all the potential referrals from campus,” Slater said. “Our centers have had to direct those other students to Grand Rapids for counseling and care. That adds time to starting their treatment. We expect our referrals will be on the way to psychiatric services within days to a couple of weeks rather than months of waiting or failing to receive care.”

Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services is a psychiatric hospital and behavioral health provide with a main treatment campus located in Grand Rapids.

Slater said the addition of psychiatric care augments the programs established and continuing at Birkam Health Center and the Personal Counseling Center.

“This new access to psychiatry improves our work. Pine Rest’s abilities take us beyond what the Health Center could offer our students in terms of mental health support,” Slater said. “Consultation with Dr. Peters can lead to our students receiving medications they may require to achieve the best outcomes.”

Slater credited Dean of Student Life Lina Blair and Vice President of Student Affairs Jeanine Ward-Roof for advancing the initiative.  

Click Birkam Health Center and Personal Counseling Center to learn more about available services.