HUHS Reports Increase in Mental Health Care Utilization | News

There was a “slight increase in the number of students seeking mental health care” in a recently released Harvard survey in a Monday interview with The Crimson, according to Harvard University Director of Health Services Giang T. Nguyen.

Last spring, Harvard participated in the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment survey, which collected data on physical and behavioral health and well-being – including substance use, sexual health, mental health, sleep habits, exercise and nutrition – of graduates and Students collected were students.

According to Nguyen, the survey, conducted from Feb. 26 to March 8, received responses from 3,823 students, a response rate of just over 19 percent of all students invited to participate.

“In my conversations with the people who oversee data collection for NCHA nationally, and also in conversations with other campus health leaders at other universities, we actually had significantly higher response rates than other universities,” Nguyen said.

According to Nguyen, about 69 percent of survey participants were graduates and professionals, which closely matches the makeup of Harvard’s student body.

“That’s what we would expect in terms of overall distribution,” he added.

According to Barbara Lewis, director of counseling and mental health services, CAMHS “recorded a record number of consultations in September”, confirming the survey findings.

This month, Lewis said CAMHS had 550 consultations, compared to 467 last September. She added that TimelyCare – a teletherapy and health coaching platform – conducted 760 appointments and 66 wellness coaching visits in August and September.

“The students really watch the videos,” Lewis said. “The most viewed video is about sleep, the second is about social worries and anxiety.”

While the use of mental health resources has increased, Nguyen said the survey also showed a “slight decrease” in self-reported anxiety, which he attributed to “the university’s mental health efforts” such as TimelyCare, the “We’ re All Human campaign and increasingly accessible care and services provided by clinical access coordinators at CAMHS.

Looking to the future, Lewis said CAMHS is committed to “meeting the needs of students and I think we have succeeded in doing that so far.”

According to Lewis, TimelyCare’s satisfaction scores average 4.9 out of 5.

Lewis also said the CAMHS goal of 65 percent diversity – in terms of race and ethnicity and sexual orientation – was met, while “over 50 percent of TimelyCare providers are non-white providers.”

“It was very difficult to find clinicians for certain categories, but particularly in the Jewish and Muslim sectors,” Lewis said.

Per Lewis, CAMHS continues to make efforts to reduce patient wait times for mental health appointments – a common complaint from students.

“The wait time for the initial consultation is three to five days, but if you call the office you can get an initial consultation the same day,” she said. “The wait time to actually be placed on a therapist plan is now between one and two weeks.”

Aside from mental health issues, the study’s results show that sleep is another common problem among Harvard students.

“We found that about 60 percent of students reported getting seven to nine hours of sleep, which of course means about 40 percent are not getting seven to nine hours of sleep every day,” Nguyen said.

Nguyen added that “27 percent of students who responded to the survey said they really feel like they need more sleep than they get,” reflecting interest in videos on TimelyCare.

The survey also assessed students’ physical activity levels.

According to Nguyen, “75 percent of students actually achieve the recommended 150 minutes of physical activity per week,” but added that “about one in four students could use a little more physical activity throughout the week.”

“We know how important this is – not just for physical health but also for emotional well-being,” he added.

Nguyen said Harvard’s recently developed CrimsonZip mobile app — a group fitness connection platform — aims to achieve “community building around physical activity.”

According to HUHS spokeswoman Tiffanie A. Green, Harvard is “fairly consistent with what other schools that responded to the survey have done.”

“Pretty much what we’ve seen generally is that Harvard is not a huge outlier compared to other universities,” she added. “A lot of the students are going through the same thing, they’re just in different regions of the country.”

—Staff writer Alex Chou can be reached at [email protected].

– Staff Writer Camilla J. Martinez can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @camillajinm.