Students' Mental Health Rights & Accommodations

Both psychiatric diagnoses and functional difficulties make college students eligible for mental health-based accommodations.

Psychiatric diagnoses include, but are not limited to:

• Mood disorders

  • Depression

  • Bipolar Affective Disorder

• Anxiety disorders

  • Generalized Anxiety Disorder

  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

• Schizophrenia

Functional difficulties associated with mental health include, but are not limited to:

• Complications or side effects from psychiatric medications

• Environmental stimuli (increased sensitivity to sights, sounds or learning atmosphere)

• Management of other obligations, courses and employment

• Perceived or actual lack of support from professors that impedes a student's ability to ask questions, participate or earn a fair grade

• Severe academic anxiety (test anxiety, for example)

• Difficult personal or familial circumstances

  • loss

  • moving

  • divorce

  • abuse

The initial step of seeking accommodations requires students to reach out to campus resources, such their school's mental health resource center, their office of accessibility/disability support services, and/or their professors.

After a student reaches out to faculty/staff to express concern and seek accommodations, a meeting will be set up. At this meeting, the student's current situation, experiences, any diagnosis or functional difficulty, and desired outcome will be reviewed. Additionally, the student will be connected with additional support services on campus, such as school psychologists, psychiatrists and specialized counselors.

After accommodations are established, students review these accommodations with their professors and establish the best practices for success in the classroom setting. Professors can expect to see a variety of accommodations pursued by students, including classroom accommodations, examination accommodations and assignment accommodations. As explained by The University of Washington, these accommodations can take these forms:

Classroom Accommodations:

• Assigned classmates as assistants or learning partners

• Prearranged or as-needed breaks

• Digital copies of materials, such as professor slideshows

• Private feedback on a student's academic performance

Examination Accommodations:

• Examinations in alternative formats (oral, written, digital)

• Examinations in a separate room

• Extended time on examinations

• Increased or decreased frequency of exams

Assignment Accommodations:

• Permission to submit handwritten, rather than typed, assignments

• Assignment assistance or extension during leaves of absence or hospitalizations

• Extended time to complete assignments

• Presentation assistance (allowing use of notecards, scripts, etc.)

Colleges and universities have a variety of responses they can implement in order to best support students' needs.

One of the first crucial steps for colleges and universities to take is embracing the diversity of its students, including the limitations they may be facing, both within and outside of the classroom.

Secondly, colleges and universities can pursue alternative instructional and learning strategies for students, including:

• auditory learning

• visual learning

• experiential learning (doing work hands-on)

Absolutely.

Your college or university professionals can work with you and your family to develop what are known as transition plans. Transition plans are set in place during periods where school is not actively in session. During the summer and winter breaks that most colleges and universities offer their students, support is still a pressing need for those with psychiatric disabilities.

Coordination of transition plans can include working to find psychologists or psychiatrists available to see students in their home towns over extended breaks, devising strategies of support and crisis response, and working to identify and cultivate positive coping strategies in order to help students feel stable even when they are not in school.