Meeting the Need Iowa Wesleyan enters partnership with Hillcrest to bring more mental health services to students

Through a new partnership with Hillcrest Family Services, Iowa Wesleyan University will now have a full-time mental health counselor working on campus to meet the needs of students. The services of the counselor, provided by Hillcrest, will be covered through student insurance and will come at no direct cost to the university or students.

University Provost DeWayne Frazier said discussions about the partnership between the university and the health care organization began over the summer and that the university sought out Hillcrest after noticing a gap in mental health resources and the needs of students.

According to Frazier, in the time that he has worked at the university, backlogs of students waiting for appointments for counseling would often be a month and a half long at the end of each semester.

'We've made a conscious effort to invest in mental health, trying to be proactive rather than reactive,” Frazier said. The partnership is just one example of how the university has worked to improve and address mental health needs.

'We've done workshops on anxiety. We're also doing more long term care, and trying to make mental health more accessible,” Frazier added.

The University Provost explained that Donzell Lampkins, a mental health counselor from Chicago, joined Iowa Wesleyan July 15 and is placed in the Howe Student Activity Center. Lampkins' role will be to help counsel students as well as work as triage. He will assess a student's needs and will make referrals to further Hillcrest services if necessary.

'We wanted to find a way to get them onto campus … so students could feel more comfortable. We wanted to help pull back the stigma … some students didn't want to be seen walking into the center or having to get to it in town,” Frazier said. To inform students of the new services available, Frazier noted that emails were sent and signs around campus remind students of resources available to them.

Chris Betsworth Division Director of Mental Health Centers in southeast Iowa for Hillcrest said that the partnership was a natural fit, especially in light of Hillcrest's long history with Presbyterian and Methodist institutions.

'We're hoping this will increase accessibility to mental health services for students,” Betsworth said.

Betsworth noted that in rural areas, there often can be limited available resources for students and that the presence of a mental health counselor directly on campus may make it easier for students to receive help.

'The campus is one with representation from a variety of countries that often have stigmas that surround mental health so it's important that students can easily get the mental health services they need,” Betsworth added.

The partnership comes in the wake of the near-closure of Hillcrest's Mt. Pleasant clinic over the summer. Betsworth noted that a different financial decision allowed for the clinic to remain open. Frazier also explained that the partnership allows Hillcrest to further their involvement and investment into the Mt. Pleasant community.

'It was the awareness of Hillcrest and their financial plight ... that prompted me to engage them in a discussion of a mutually beneficial partnership. Hillcrest could receive more financial support through an increased clientele base and [our university] would receive more support for our students, and as a result it would assist in retaining students. It is a win-win for both organizations and we are very grateful for the opportunity to partner on this creative front with Hillcrest,” Frazier added.

In addition to the new partnership, Iowa Wesleyan has just received a $20,000 grant from the Jed Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on promoting emotional health and preventing suicide in teens and young adults.

'Our goal is not just to hand somebody a degree,” Frazier said. 'We want to train them to live in society and be good citizens. They'll also gain skills, but we also want them to learn to live a healthy life.”

'Everyone deserves to live a life where they get the support that they need,” Frazier concluded.