The Westchester County Suicide Prevention & Awareness Task Force recently organized a panel entitled “Addressing the Mental Health Needs of College Students.” The event gathered professionals from 11 different colleges including The College of Westchester. The main purpose of this event was to bring together the local Westchester County area colleges in an effort to collaborate and communicate over best practices and share issues regarding the needs of college students.
Diana Cusumano, Director of the Counseling Center at CW was one of the panelists, “Everyone brought their personal perspective on how to best help our students not only during times of crisis but how can we provide more preventative measures for our students before they reach a crisis state.” Diana and the other panelists discussed how difficult it is to address the topic of mental illness to college students, “There is still some stigma or stereotype that exists when someone mentions a mental illness, but this college aged generation is much more open to talking about it and learning about mental health issues than ever before.”
The panel took place at the Westchester Community College and was coordinated by the Department of Community Mental Health in Westchester. The DCMH oversees and coordinates services for individuals (and their families) with mental illness, developmental disabilities and substance abuse disorders.