Counselling in crisis
OXFORD UNIVERSITY'S counselling service is facing a “serious resource issue”, with students unable to get appointments. Two counsellors are currently on long-term sick leave, and despite a part-time additional counsellor being hired and current counsellors working longer hours, the problem of high waiting lists is becoming acute.
Although the service's website claims it tries to see students “within five working days”, figures obtained by this newspaper show that the 733 students who went for counselling sessions last academic year had to wait an average of 9.7 working days. When a reporter from The Oxford Student attempted to book an appointment, he was told there were none available “within the near future”. The service said they were having cancellations every day and would be in contact if anything suitable appeared.
However, the crisis means students will only be guaranteed one follow-up meeting after their first assessment. There is a student-run Nightline service in Oxford, but the University is the only body with the funds available to provide professional psychiatrists and psychologists. NHS waiting lists for similar services are between six months and a year.
The counselling service runs the training for the college peer support programme, but does not oversee the implementation of the programme itself. Nonetheless, there are reports of peer supporters being harassed for failings in the counselling service. One supporter, who did not wish to be named, said: “I referred someone who came to see me to the university's counselling service, and when she could not get an appointment straight away she verbally abused me for it. “It was very distressing.
A spokeswoman for the counselling service said the problem demonstrated the ‘lean budget' on which the service runs, meaning that they are unable to fully cover those on sick-leave. OUSU VP Welfare and equal opportunies Nicky Ellis said: “This is a serious short term problem. However, there have been concerns about the length of waiting lists for some time.
“The University and colleges need to make a longterm commitment to fund the Counselling Service properly so that it can meet its five-day target.” Students can ask a counsellor to phone and check that they are coping with the delay, but the availability of long sessions is still greatly diminished. The University finance department was unavailable for comment.
17th Feb 2005