When I tried to get matched with a therapist at Mental Health and Counseling my first year It took months to get an appointment, and when I finally did, I felt like every session was encouraging me out the door faster. Eventually, my doctor asked if I was ready to stop coming back, and I felt like I needed to say yes, even when I did not feel ready. This experience colored all my thoughts about therapy and discouraged me from seeing anyone, within or outside of Yale again.
This past month I started seeing a therapist in New Haven because of uncertainty about the future, job security, and my education. Meeting a spring and summer student-income contribution would even further this anxiety. I would hope that I could get affordable, reliable, and immediate counseling services at Yale Mental Health and Counseling that is not a reality. I was only able to work with a queer counselor with practices that matched my needs because my parents insurance carries out of state coverage. The inequality around intersecting mental health, economic, and educational support at Yale exacerbates these already present and vast disparities. When a country does not meet basic health and economic needs of its citizens, it is especially abhorrent of a wealthy institution like Yale fail its students in the same ways.
Anna Milliken, She/Her, 2021, Ezra Stiles College
