Wait times at the UF Counseling and Wellness Center may decrease with the center’s plan to have seven new counselors working by the end of the year.
In August 2017, the UF Board of Trustees approved the hire of 12 new full-time mental health counselors, according to Alligator archives. These additional counselors would decrease the ratio from the current one counselor to 1,400 students to one to 1,253 students. All counselors are still on track to be hired by the end of the 2019-2020 fiscal year, Escoto said.
“Our university has become so much (more) competitive, and with that comes a certain level of anxiety,” said Ernesto Escoto, the director of the UF Counseling and Wellness Center.
For at least the last four years, the number of students using the Center has increased by about 5 percent every year, Escoto said. In the 2016-2017 year, the Center cared for 5,100 students, but in the 2017-2018 year, that increased to 5,340 students.
In 2016-2017, 6 percent of students were placed on a waiting list to see a counselor, Escoto said, with an average wait time of 16 days for a follow-up appointment. He said this was because they must prioritize those who need immediate counseling.
In addition to the new counselors, the Center is planning to remodel offices in Peabody Hall to accommodate the new hires, with six new offices and a smaller conference room, Escoto said. The Center is waiting for an estimate to remodel and hopes to have the space completed by the end of May.
Escoto said they are still waiting to see how the increase in employment will affect the time it takes to see students.
Cheyenne Cheng, a 21-year-old UF psychology senior, said she first went to the Counseling and Wellness Center her freshman year after her roommates were concerned with her mental health and suggested that she make an appointment. She made about two more appointments that year.
Then, Cheng said she returned to the Center at the end of the Spring of her junior year, when a concerned professor drove her over. Cheng met with an on-call counselor right away.
She began meeting with Counseling and Wellness Center staff member Sunni Lutton regularly, Cheng said.
“I was fortunate enough to be paired with a counselor that I really hit it off with,” Cheng said.
Cheng believes hiring new counselors can help the Center serve its students. However, Cheng said she doesn’t think that the Center can be successful if it’s working alone.
“I think the university needs to do more than just hire counselors,” Cheng said. “But also, train faculty and staff on mental health awareness, and maybe students, as well.”
Contact Gillian Sweeney at gsweeney@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @gilliangsweeney
