Long Island University Brooklyn’s decision to lock out its 400 unionized professors ahead of the fall 2016 semester is impacting students beyond the scope of their lectures, seminars and lab sections. Teachers and graduate students in the Psychology department said Tuesday that the administration has failed to maintain the campus Psychological Services Center where, under normal circumstances, students drop in for counseling sessions to discuss loneliness, anxiety and suicidal thoughts.
The professors who supervise the center, who are also licensed psychologists, are currently barred from campus. Second-year psychology PhD students are typically in charge of counseling, but can only run sessions with licensed oversight. According to center director Dr. Seymour Pardo, only the office secretary is currently reporting to work. He's urged her to refer students to a mental health counseling hotline and the Dean of Students.
Since the lockout commenced last week, "the administration has had no direct contact with me," Pardo said.
LIU's Psychological Services Center is unique among mental health centers at American universities, in that its services are primarily pro bono—provided by professors and students rather than outside professionals. "It's a win-win," said Kevin Meehan, an associate psychology professor. "The university gets high-quality psych services at no cost, and our students get training."
Now, in addition to missing out on said training, some of the PhD students said their psychology classes aren't adequately staffed. "It's concerning because we're on a really tight cycle ofexternships for our licensing," said one of the students, who spoke anonymously for fear of retribution from the administration. "Every day that we're not in the clinic is costing us those hours, which is impacting our eligibility."
[For more of this story, written by Emma Whitford, go to http://gothamist.com/2016/09/1...dents_psychology.php]
Comments (0)