Counseling available, often required
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Treating prolonged, habitual consumption of alcohol by students has become the focus of many university programs in southwest Ohio.
At Miami University, eight full-time counselors and a psychiatrist work with three interns and two part-time counselors in the Office of Health Education, offering students one free session with follow-ups at an affordable co-pay price.
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Many students believe that because they have no urge for alcohol in the morning and are able to function throughout the day, they have no problem.
"You can be an alcoholic and still have straight As," said Christine Henry, a Miami Counseling Center psychology intern. "I have seen students who function so well, but they really do have problems."
Ashley Felger, a senior chemistry major at Miami, described the psychological implications felt by students after a particularly hard night of drinking.
"I think that girls can get morally hung-over the next day after blacking out the night before, like if they hooked up with someone they didn't really want to," she said.
Those students often go out the next night to prove to themselves and their friends that they are capable of handling their alcohol, Felger said.
"The students that I see, most of them say that alcohol is the primary focus at events," said Dr. Jeanene Robinson-Kyles, coordinator for outreach and consultation at Wright State's Counseling and Wellness Services program. She works alongside four senior staff members and 14 student therapists to offer students up to 30 free therapy sessions, but the program struggles to treat students to help themselves.
Most students are mandated to work with counselors as part of a punishment for an alcohol-related offense.
And while the majority of these students tend to initially rebuff treatment, they often begin to accept its usefulness, Robinson-Kyles said.
One Wright State student, who asked not to be identified, echoed this sentiment.
"Nobody that I know takes counseling all that seriously," he said. "It's a punishment for drinking, so you just do it and get it over with."
