Counseling Center Makes Improvements; Remains Understaffed

Frostburg State University’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) is in the process of a major transition and overhaul of practices following TBL’s coverage of the office’s deficiencies in May 2019.

“This was a wake-up call for us, and other universities” says Carl Crowe, Interim Dean of Students, “We realized that we are not in the business of running counseling programs.”

Thus, FSU turned over the CAPS office to the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center of Western Maryland (UPMC WM) for assistance with staffing and best practices. Jeff O’Neal, UPMC WM Executive Director of Clinics, took on the challenge starting in Sept. 2019. As a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor himself, O’Neal could see that CAPS was in need of professional clinical management in order to identify areas of need better.

“In two or three months, we were able to eliminate the waitlist and live up to the promise of same-day services for emergencies,” says O’Neal.

As of early February, the on-campus clinic was averaging 4.8 businesses days from the time of appointment initiation until a student could be seen. This figure was partially skewed because of advance appointments made during Intersession, but is a significant improvement.

After assisting in getting CAPS on the right path, O’Neal is stepping aside.

The new CAPS Clinical Director, Susan Mandell, made her introduction to campus via email on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020. Her placement into the position was made official on Feb. 17, 2020. Mandell was already a staff member at CAPS before transitioning into her new position.

Mandell’s appointment to the position was made by O’Neal in consultation with Crowe, who will remain the liaison between FSU and UPMC WM. The decision did not include student input, according to SGA.

Several other new staff members recently started at CAPS, as well, including Michelle Brinsfield, Brianne Perez, and Kevin Peterson.

Mandell says the aim of CAPS is to provide “culturally sensitive clinical services in a timely manner to our students.” However, CAPS does not have a staff member of color, as of yet.

Moreover, even with the new staff additions, CAPS remains understaffed.

O’Neal and Crowe acknowledge this and hope to address both needs. “I would love to have someone of color here and we are working with FSU to advertise the position on new platforms. We are actively working on recruitment for the position,” says O’Neal. Crowe assures that attracting another care provider is a priority, “We are working with UPMC MD to get that position filled, but students shouldn’t be concerned. The Health System has a large number of services we can deploy in the meantime.”

Indeed, some of the services now offered as a result of the partnership between FSU and UPMC WM include telecounseling, a crisis response team, and a new Connections Group which seeks to address mental health needs in a group setting. Organized by Michelle Brinsfield, Connections was created after CAPS staff members noticed similar experiences, like loneliness, manifesting itself into depression among students.

Mandell’s personal goal for the office is to “grow CAPS’ presence outside of [their] office and in other parts of campus through outreach presentations and building collaborative partnerships with student groups and other university offices.” One particular outreach opportunity happened on Thursday, Feb. 20 when faculty members were offered a day-long training by CAPS staff.

For non-emergency cases, CAPS says a student can expect to be seen by a therapist within 10 business days. Moreover, in order to address some of the lingering concerns about CAPS on campus, the office has implemented a new patient satisfaction survey. The results of the first two weeks of February can be seen here:

“We are more than willing to address concerns and implement change,” says O’Neal, “we hope to integrate with groups and learn how we can be better involved on campus.”

Crowe admits that some of these improvements have been lost in translation. “We see that we have an issue with communication and that CAPS is lacking presence on campus. We are planning to put out a CAPS newsletter in the future.”

“More than anything, we want the services we provide to students to feel authentic,” says Crowe.

The services provided at CAPS are offered free-of-charge to students. Counseling sessions are usually 50 minutes in length, once a week. To schedule an appointment, call the office at 301.687.4234 or email CAPS@frostburg.edu.