For mental healthcare.

“I felt ridiculous for asking for a mental health care provider with the knowledge and competency to give me the care that I needed. Yale health is not equipped to support working class students of color and queer students until they can provide fast, easy access to care with counselors who share their lived experiences.”

Because I do not have to pay the student income contribution, I have been able to find time in my schedule for counseling appointments, and have had enough flexibility during business hours to get matched with a therapist much faster than some of my peers. However, when I asked to Read more…

By Students Unite Now, ago

“During my quarantine experience, my social anxiety, depression, and body dysmorphia have been heightened due to lack of interaction and activity. This will create an even bigger demand for mental health counseling, that can either be met, or ignored.”

“Ever since I arrived at Yale as a freshman, I have heard horror stories of Yale Mental Health Services and how getting an appointment could take months. As someone who has struggled with anxiety and depression all throughout highschool, the transition to college was not easy for me. I am Read more…

By Students Unite Now, ago

“It’s crucial that Yale expand access to mental health resources by reducing wait times and meeting student preferences so others can get support quickly like I did.”

I had a massive safety net to fall back onto– stable home in a relatively affluent suburb that I could come home to. All income earners in my house worked jobs that could go remote, which meant that we continued making money without risking exposure. We could keep ordering food Read more…

By Students Unite Now, ago

“By eliminating the SIC, lowering therapy wait times, and by meeting patient preferences for therapists, Yale will be creating the conditions for all students, not just the wealthy, to learn and thrive in the coming year.”

I haven’t beared the same emotional and financial burdens that many of my FGLI peers have during these past few months. My rage towards Yale, which is demanding that students pay beyond what they can afford, doesn’t compare to that of many of my peers whose lives and beings are Read more…

By Students Unite Now, ago

“Even after I did get paired, I felt like my depression wasn’t bad enough to need therapy and other students needed it more, so I didn’t even go to the counselor I got assigned to until months later.”

“When I went to my first intake and then waited to be paired with a counselor, I remember doubting whether therapy was even a good idea. I was already not in a good place, and the last thing I wanted to do after was go back. If I had gotten Read more…

By Students Unite Now, ago

“Hearing how other people had to wait whole semesters before mental health services contacted them post-intake appointment made me brush off any suggestion to go and seek out their services for myself. I picked up unhealthy coping mechanisms, and ultimately began to resent the entirety of my being on campus.”

“I think hiring more mental health professionals is important, since there seems to be an inadequate amount of psychologists/psychiatrists for the population that needs them. I know that I would have sought mental health counseling earlier, and had stuck with it, if there wasn’t this pattern of counseling services being Read more…

By Students Unite Now, ago

“While I know I gained useful skills from my job, I really do wish I was able to have spent my time doing other things like exploring more extracurriculars, building relationships with my peers, or even spent more time taking care of my health with sleep and exercise.”

This summer, I am doing an internship with a local charter school network; it was supposed to have been a paid internship, but now with the pandemic and economic downturn, it is unpaid. I was fortunate enough to be awarded a fellowship for a separate research project that I am Read more…

By Students Unite Now, ago

This semester, I wanted to start going to therapy. I have never had access to mental health resources until I came to Yale. When I was sent home, those resources all went away again.

In many ways, Yale’s COVID-19 response only emphasized the pre-existing racial and economic inequalities on campus. Being sent home due to COVID-19 separated many students from the resources that Yale provided. This semester, I wanted to start going to therapy. I have never had access to mental health resources until Read more…

By Students Unite Now, ago