Jason Koski/University Photography

From left, Tim Marchell, director of Mental Health Initiatives at Cornell's Gannett Health Services; LeBron Rankins, a psychologist at Ithaca College's Counseling and Psychological Services Center; and Jim Hull, dean of students at Tompkins Cortland Community College discuss student mental health services used by area schools, Sept. 22.

When psychologist LeBron Rankins asks Ithaca College (IC) students where the counseling center is, sometimes even seniors don't know. "Visibility is the key word," Rankins said, and one of IC's Counseling and Psychological Services Center's main goals is to "raise awareness about its presence on campus," he added, speaking at a Sept. 22 panel discussion at Ithaca High School.

The town-gown panel on student mental health services and strategies was sponsored by the Campus-Community Coalition, a group headed by staff and students at Cornell, IC and Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3). The group provides a forum for communitywide communication and joint problem solving.

Jim Hull, dean of students at TC3, agreeing with Rankins, noted the college's conversations about suicide-prevention strategies held at the beginning of the school year and emphasized the need to "keep the visibility of services up."

Students play a crucial role in spreading awareness of mental health services, said Rankins, noting that "students will listen to each other before they listen to me."

Social connections can also support mental well-being, the panelists said. While meeting with Ithaca City School District counselors, social workers and psychologists, Nan Brown, coordinator of counselors, said she reminds them to consider "the social-emotional domain as well as the academic." It is important for high school students to have one person, whether a teacher or a staff member, who "has a connection with them," Brown added.

Although academic stress doesn't cause suicide, it can be one of many contributing factors, said Tim Marchell, director of Mental Health Initiatives for Cornell's Gannett Health Services. In the wake of the suicides on Cornell's campus last spring, the university adopted a new comprehensive approach to deal with the crisis, Marchell said. The approach includes having faculty review the entire academic experience to try to create a supportive context for students while maintaining academic rigor, he added.

Similarly at TC3, Hull said that the college will be holding forums throughout the year for faculty and staff to learn about "the cues that they may pick up" from students who should get help.

Rankins also addressed the role of parents in supporting their children's mental health, focusing on the importance of conversations. Parents should "create a dialogue with their kids" about how to take care of their physical and emotional health, he said.

According to Marchell, a study of Cornell students found that one in three communicate daily with their parents. He agreed with Rankins, noting that students try to "assert independence" yet still need their parents in many ways.

Students come from a variety of cultural backgrounds, said Brown, all with different parental expectations for academic performance. Counselors need to "be very sensitive" to cultural expectations in helping students deal with stress, she added.

Marchell also touched on the influence of culture, saying that because of differences in cultural norms for talking about mental health some international students may be less likely to utilize counseling services.

Above all, teachers must remember that they're "not just teaching a subject," said Brown. "They're teaching people."

Joseph Mansky '12 is a writer intern for the Cornell Chronicle.