For reduced appointment wait times.

“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

For someone like me, limited by economic and class constraints, the resources Yale advertises are priceless. However, in reality, these resources (especially Yale Mental Health), which are pushed as resources for all, become resources for a very select few.

The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated many other long-standing issues within our society. As the son of first-generation Chinese immigrants, I’ve spent most of my life, especially the past few months, helping my family’s restaurant stay afloat as many small businesses nationwide teeter on the edge of collapse. The various crises Read more…

By Students Unite Now, ago

If students are expected to entrust this institution with our health and wellbeing, then Yale MUST do better; especially given that the landscape of healthcare in New Haven is dominated by the Yale Corporation, students need better, more restorative, and representative mental health services made accessible to them by the University.

I am calling on Yale to lower therapy wait times and meet patient preferences for therapists because anything less would continue to perpetuate Yale’s violent negligence of students with disabilities. When students come to Yale, they become dependent on the University for our most basic needs: food, housing, health and Read more…

By Students Unite Now, ago

When you’re financially unstable on campus, you’re constantly wanting to seek help but it’s hard to balance with working and academics. Given Yale’s reputation with mental health services, it doesn’t even seem worth it to try to access them.

My dad is out of work, and my mom has had her wages cut. She’s also an essential worker and is at risk for contracting COVID-19. We don’t have the best healthcare, so it’s really stressful to think about how what we would do if she got sick. Dealing with Read more…

By Students Unite Now, ago

I have seen how my close friends have been unfulfilled, unsatisfied, and underserved by Yale’s Mental Health and Counseling. In some cases, this inadequate care has caused people around me to leave Yale in order to properly heal.

I do not have much personal experience with Yale’s Mental Health Services. However, I have seen how my close friends have been unfulfilled, unsatisfied, and underserved by Yale’s Mental Health and Counseling. In some cases, this inadequate care has caused people around me to leave Yale in order to properly Read more…

By Students Unite Now, ago

It felt awful, because I knew I was spiraling here—tonight—but that help might only come over a month down the road. My crisis only became evident when I was in the middle of it, not weeks before it happened.

The moment where I needed to see a therapist did not announce itself ahead of time. There was no advance warning or courtesy notice. I was in the middle of my most difficult semester, and I didn’t understand the full weight of my academic burden until I realized I was Read more…

By Students Unite Now, ago

Once it was established that I was not severely depressed, it felt like my case was immediately dropped to the bottom of an endless pile. I did not receive a call back about making a second appointment until six months later.

At my Yale Mental Health and Counseling intake appointment in October, I felt like the whole conversation was centered around whether or not I was having suicidal ideation or a severe depressive episode. Once it was established that I was not severely depressed, it felt like my case was immediately Read more…

By Students Unite Now, ago

To go through the grueling, time-consuming process of dealing with MH&C just to be matched with a therapist who can’t even relate to or understand my experiences was just not worth it. As a queer woman of color, it makes me uncomfortable to talk to someone who can’t relate to my background at all.

I’ve been discouraged from seeking help from MH&C because of everyone else’s horror stories. Because there are so few women of color therapists, I never even considered that therapy was for me. I knew that the anxiety of trying to find the right therapist would be too much for me. Read more…

By Students Unite Now, ago