330 from UL sought help in first half of year
THERE has been an unprecedented increase in demand for counselling services at UL in the first half of the year, according to Declan Aherne, head of student counselling.
Meanwhile, a local GP told the Limerick Post much the same scenario applies in both city and county, with more and more individuals and families coming under pressure.
Aherne said their six staff have been working creatively to cope with demand at the university.
The clinical psychologist assesses all who come through the centre, and has expressed his concerns at the dramatic rise in numbers.
“Last year, 500 students came through the centre, with 80-100 consultations per week. For the fist half of last year, we had 232 patients, and for the first half of this year we have 330”.
Although not certain what has created the upwards swing, he expressed the view that it could be a “general reflection of depressing recessionary times and the general doom and gloom in society”.
As students currently sit their autumn exams, the counsellor said that related stress accounted for just a fraction of the problems aired with them.
“Exams are the least of our worries… we consider them to be a natural hazard of university”.
He explained that they deal with a broad spectrum of difficulties: “You never know who is going to walk in the door, it could be someone that is acutely suicidal or someone who is just having a bad day and needs a shoulder to cry on”.
According to Aherne, student counselling centres provide an invaluable asset to most third level colleges.
“If these centres didn’t exist, students would have to go a to a GP who, in turn, will refer them to a counsellor, and if the patient is public, this could takes weeks or months, whereas we provide a drop in service”.
All students are given documentation and literature on the counselling centre when they commence studies, and campaigns are run throughout the academic year to make them aware of their existence.
For students who find it difficult to attend the centre, he pointed to the common paths that will provide advise to students: “Each has an academic advisor they can talk to; they can also attend the mature student office. Some people are very lonely and isolated, so each support person will invariably try to get them to come to see us”.
