Students Struggling With Mental Health Often Confide in Professors. They Want More Guidance on How to Help.

During an academic year that has been shaped by the pandemic, faculty members have encountered plenty of students who are grappling with mental-health issues. But data in one report shows that, despite their willingness to assist students in distress, professors don’t know as much as they’d like about how to get them the help they need.

The report — based on a survey of 1,685 faculty members conducted during the spring semester by the Boston University School of Public Health, the Healthy Minds Network, and the Mary Christie Foundation — showed that nearly eight out of 10 professors had a one-on-one conversation with a student about mental health during the last 12 months. However, less than 30 percent of faculty members said they have received training from their institutions to have such discussions.

Almost 70 percent of professors said they want to better understand student mental-health issues and would welcome training. In fact, 61 percent of those surveyed said basic training on how to respond to students undergoing a mental-health crisis should be mandatory for all faculty members.

The results from the survey, which was led by Sarah Ketchen Lipson, an assistant professor of health law, policy, and management at Boston University, show that colleges “can do a better job in supporting faculty as they fulfill this increasingly important role in addressing the mental health of all students on campus,” the report said.

According to the report, supporting students through their mental-health challenges has come at a cost: About one in five professors said their own mental health had suffered because of it.

For more on the faculty’s role in student mental health, see below: