Gary Margolis

The Police Response to Mental Illness on Campus

Campus police officers are often among the initial contacts for behavioral incidents involving people with mental illness. Their training and access to resources influence decisions to direct the individual to support services and/or through campus disciplinary processes and/or the criminal justice system. Over the past decade, there has been an increase in the severity of mental health issues on campuses and an increased focus on mental health needs. Suicide, abuse of alcohol and drugs, and highly publicized incidents of violence with co-occurring mental illness have raised considerable concern on college campuses. This article explores the unique challenges these interactions pose for campus police officers, and their need for knowledge, skills, and training to recognize mental illness and effectively respond to it. The article discusses the need for appropriate dispatch protocols, increased training for police officers, and increased collaboration and partnerships between the police and stakeholders both on and off the campus.

Learning to Leave: Problems of Graduating Clinical Observations and Strategies

Abstract Like other moments of significant transition and separation, graduating from college involves a complex set of feelings and behaviors. Stress can be associated with various steps in this process, including identifying and completing tasks, anticipating change, participating in ceremony, and moving on. Common presenting problems and counseling strategies are described so that health workers can understand these dynamics within their developmental context for young adults. Leaving can be a skill some students need to acknowledge and learn, so that they can continue to grow.

Becoming Close: Intimate Relations Among College Students

Abstract Creating intimate relationships is an emotional necessity and a significant developmental task for late adolescents. Acknowledging these needs and acquiring those skills is uniquely risky and stressful for students who often are trying to achieve greater independence, particularly with their parents, while simultaneously wanting intimacy and its concomitant dependency and vulnerability. Identified is the intimacy stress associated with various stages of college relationship: A) becoming interested, b) ending the hometown relationship, c) staying free, d) being sexual, and e) breaking up. Counseling strategies are suggested for counselors who, however skilled at working with the communication, sexual, and identity problems of relationships, may need to comprehend the developmental context in which intimacy is framed for students.