Your Campus Partner for Mental Health
USC Student Health serves as the provider resource (all mental health providers are credentialed through Keck Medicine of USC and are clinical faculty of the Dept. of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Health Sciences of the Keck School of Medicine); the community health data resource (through our campus public health teams); and the campus mental health trends resource (through aggregated data, and review of trends nationally on college campuses) for the University of Southern California.
In-School Services
To expand partnerships with cultural and academic-based groups at USC, counseling and mental health has embedded counselors and liaisons who develop relationships with specific communities. Although different, embedded counselors and liaisons both focus on engagement, outreach, and prevention.
These options have distinct differences:
- Embedded counselors offer location-based convenience to student communities, as they regularly hold appointment hours within academic school complexes and cultural centers. They also work in partnership with your leaders to address community wellbeing.
- Liaisons provide insight to academic and student service leadership. Liaisons help make recommendations for units as they seek to develop wellbeing programs in collaboration with Student Health public health teams.
Both partnerships foster support for mental health, wellbeing, connectedness, and resiliency by developing collaborative relationships with your leadership, students, and faculty.
Embedded Counselors 101
Embedded counselors provide therapy in a private office within an academic school or cultural center building. They also engage with your school or center’s leadership, acting as a valuable partner in increasing your community’s overall well-being.
Liaisons 101
Liaisons are counseling and mental health faculty who work with specific units or groups to foster well-being and connection throughout campus. They can also assist your area with connecting to services, provide consultation and help with facilitating community education activities.
How are embedded counselor locations selected? Assignments of embedded counselors within USC departments originally began with evidence-based review of communities where there is higher risk to student mental health and lower utilization of services. The embedded counselor model provides location-based access as a way or removing barriers to care for the most vulnerable student communities.
Host departments provide space and technical support for clinical appointments to take place in the community environment.
There are many ways that academic programs and units can take leadership steps to supporting student wellbeing, from creating school-based programs, convening conversations around academic stressors and workload, encouraging gatekeeper training on mental health topics, educating parents and support networks of best practices, and reviewing data specific to students in your academic program. These actions allow us to collectively promote mental health awareness, facilitate open communication, decrease stigma, and take a community-based approach to wellness.
However, clinical psychotherapy services for USC students as part of university student services may only be provided through USC Student Health, Keck Medicine of USC. The licensed clinical mental health providers in Student Health’s Counseling and Mental Health department hold clinical faculty appointments in the Dept. of Psychiatry of the Keck School of Medicine of USC, and practice standards are held to the highest level of expectations in a department of academic medicine.
Our Counseling and Mental Health leaders welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss collaborations, please reach out to Emil Smith, MHA, Director, Counseling Mental Health Operations, to begin our joint conversations.
Students who need assistance may not come directly to Counseling and Mental Health Services on their own, but would accept a referral from a faculty member, advisor, program director, or colleague. CMH liaisons also help to increase the campus’ capacity to manage mental health situations with more confidence and knowledge. Here are some ways that establishing a liaison may benefit your group:
- Building Understanding
- Consultation to determine unit’s needs, related to mental health
- CMH faculty understanding the unique needs of your campus department/unit
- Sharing Knowledge
- Receiving CMH information on a regular basis throughout the year with tailored messages and information
- Faculty/academic staff knowing resources and how to make appropriate referrals