More UNB students than ever disclose suicidal thoughts, psychologist says

More students at the University of New Brunswick are relying on mental health services than ever before, and more than half of them have had suicidal thoughts, says the UNBdirector of counselling.

The number of students seeking counselling has jumped 40 per cent from 10 years ago, causing burnout among staff, said psychologist Rice Fuller.

Many students are seeking helpfor problems that are complex and severe.

"They're saying they're having thoughts of ending their lives," Fuller said in an interview Wednesday with Information Morning Fredericton.

• Anxious students' demand for help leads to lesson on single-session therapy
• 'Absolutely urgent' to tackle student mental health, university co-ordinator says

"When it gets to be more severe, they may have a plan about what they're doing. They may have also a history of previous attempts at taking their own lives."

In a report to the university, Fuller said 740 students sought mental health services in 2008-2009. That number jumpedto more than1,000 students in the 2017-2018 school year.

The proposal says morethan 50 per cent of UNB students who come to their first counselling appointment are having suicidal thoughts.

Students rated as medium-to-high risk for suicide, havegone from three per cent of clients tomore than 30 per cent inthe past 10 years.

The increase and severity of problems has taken a toll oncounsellors, he said.

"You really need to drop everything else at that point if somebody's in the medium-to-high risk for suicide," Fuller said. "You need to give your entire focus to that person right there."

When students are medium-to-high risk, he said,counsellors are likely to spend more time with that student, develop a plan to ensure they're going to be safe, get the help they need, and possibly alert other people.

"It's a pretty complex thing and to have somebody coming into your office who is at that high risk for suicide, it is draining and takes a toll on you," he said.

Expects numbers to get worse

George MacLean, vice-president of academics at UNB, said Fuller'snumbers are troubling and he expects them to increase.

Mental health in New Brunswick especially is affected by socioeconomic conditions, a small population with reduced government services, and a rural-urban divide.

"The fact is that's what society looks like and we deal with the demographic of that society," he said.

The demands oncounselling services at universities across the country have "increased dramatically,"MacLean said, and UNB is constantly looking at ways to provide better care for students seeking mental health services.

UNB has spoken withhealth-care professionals and looked at what other universities are doing.

"We really need to be mindful because these issues aren't going away," he said.

Counsellors under pressure

Fuller saidcounsellors are frequentlybeing asked to provide more training and teaching to faculty, staff and students on how to identify and respond to students in distress, aswell as teaching mental health first aid.

They're also receiving calls daily to provide consultation with difficult students.

Things have gotten increasingly more stressful it really feels like we're on the hot seat 24/7.- Rice Fuller, psychologist

In the past 18 months, two psychologistshave left their jobs at UNB. Fuller himself is taking a leave of absence.

His report to the university asked for an increase in pay for counsellors.

Fuller saidhis team is trying to meet demand, and the university isn't acknowledging those efforts. He notified MacLean of the issues in 2017 and madethe compensation proposal inFebruary but hasn't heard back.

Theyhave an average of at least four cases a day an increase of about 20 per cent since 2017.

"It has been a difficult 10 years," Fuller said. "Things have gotten increasingly more stressful it really feels like we're on the hot seat 24/7."

What's changed?

With better access to mental health services and a decrease in stigma surrounding mental illness, more students are seeking help, Fuller said.

But students today are also faced with more challenges.

With social media, they are more connected than ever, and what they see online can have anegative impact on their mental health, resulting in personal comparisons and shallow interactions with others, he said.

Studentsnow also have fewer life experiences and are less independent coming into university. There are students in their first yearwho have never received a driver's licence, held any kind of job, or lived away from home.

How to fix it

Fuller said the university needs to increase its budget for mental health services for students.

At the same time, the province needs to consideradditional funding at all New Brunswick colleges and universities, he said.

"Certainly, in the psychologist's case they're not making enough money to get them to stay," he said.

Mental health services are allotted $500,000a year. Although money is tight, MacLean saidthe universityhas not reduced its counselling budget.

"We've been doing everything we can to protect counselling because we know how essential it is for the frontline health-care service that's needed by our students," he said.

Fuller saidmental illness is also a societal illness that needs to be addressed "upstream," whetherthat be in high school or at home.

Next door to UNB, at St. Thomas University, studentsdonated $300,000 this week to improve on-campus mental health services.