If you want to know how to best support your college student through potential mental health or anxiety issues, who better to ask than a psychiatrist? That’s exactly what Vicki and Elizabeth did in this episode. We were joined by Dr. Bianca Busch, founder of The College Psychiatrist, a medical practice that works with college students and their families. Dr. Busch emphasized that each individual is on a unique journey at a potentially stressful time in their life. We learned so much from Dr. Busch about helping students overcome challenges, navigating school and career stressors, relationship issues and identity exploration. Some students may never need counseling or mental health services, others come to college knowing they want to connect with someone for support, and others may be taken by surprise when they find they now need support. Parents will find this episode helpful no matter what lies ahead. This conversation will help you be prepared to give appropriate parental support and also guide your student who may want to seek professional help.
Thank you for listening!
- Much more information for college parents can be found on our website, College Parent Central
- Find us on Twitter at @CollParCentral
- Sign up for our newsletter for ongoing information
- Please leave us a review at “Love the Podcast” to help others find us.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Announcer (00:10):
Welcome to the College Parent Central podcast.
Whether your child is justbeginning the college admission
process or is already in college, this podcast is for you.
You'll find food for thoughtand information about college
and about navigating thatdelicate balance of guidance,
involvement and knowing when toget out of the way.
(00:31):
Join your hosts as they sharesupport and a celebration of the
amazing experience of having achild in college.
Elizabeth Hamblet (00:52):
Welcome everybody.
We are here on Facebook andalso recording for the College
Parents Central Podcast.
If you have not subscribedalready, what are you waiting
for?
I'm a subscriber as well as aco-host and a fan.
We are here today to talk to DrBianca Bush, who is the college
psychiatrist, and I am soexcited to have her here.
We are doing this in July,which is a really good time to
(01:16):
start talking about mentalhealth for our students who are
headed to college for the firsttime, perhaps in the fall, or
for those who are returning.
So I'm hoping you will get alot out of this conversation and
have a lot of steps that youcan take when we are all done.
Again, if you want to re-listento this podcast, make sure that
(01:37):
you subscribe.
It will hit your podcast feedsometime July, end of July,
Vicki.
Vicki Nelson (01:44):
I am checking the date.
I should have that at the tipof my tongue.
It will be released October,early October, right when
college students may be lookingfor some help and support.
Elizabeth Hamblet (02:05):
But in the meantime, if you are watching
this and want to share it withyour friends, it will live here
on my Facebook page under LDAdvisory, and it will also be on
my YouTube channel so yourfriends can watch it there.
But if, like me, you have a dogto walk and that's when you
listen to your podcasts, you'llhave to wait until October to
see that.
(02:25):
So, dr Bush, I have come acrossyou on social media and loved
what you're putting out.
But before we get started, tellus a little bit about yourself.
How did you get into psychiatry?
How did you get interested incollege students, sort of as a
specialty?
Dr. Bianca Busch (02:43):
Yeah, so I for a long time knew that I wanted
to be a medical doctor and, youknow, entered in medical school
thinking I would do pediatrics,because I've worked with
families and children for a longtime.
I had seven years betweencollege and medical school and
so, you know, got there.
Pediatrics was interesting, butthen I had my psychiatry
rotation and it was fascinating.
(03:03):
You're really taking everythingabout a person, taking that
into consideration, about howthat's impacting their entire
body, and I was hooked.
So in child and adolescentpsychiatry, I'm an adult child
and adolescent psychiatrist.
You can really serve all agesand you're working with families
, which was really my desire inpursuing pediatrics.
(03:26):
So that's how it came to be andI am still so excited and
thrilled by the choice.
I love my work and, as I hadstarted my private practice in
2020 doing the work, I hadlicenses in multiple states and
just sort of found that I washelpful for college students, as
they would go away to school.
(03:46):
Oftentimes they'll lose accessto their therapist or their
psychiatrist, but having themultiple state licenses really
did help me stay connected tostudents and so, yeah, I just
found that I had fun with themand then, as a child and
adolescent psychiatrist, we arereally trained to work with
families, and I found thatthat's something that's so
(04:06):
needed.
Even when a student is 18 or 19or 20, they're still
transitioning away from the homemost often, and their parents
are in transition.
They're going through their owntransition and sometimes need
some help.
So that is really how thecollege psychiatrist came to be.
Is that I found, hey, I reallylike this work and I found that
(04:28):
there was also a need.
Elizabeth Hamblet (04:30):
And so for those who have not heard of the
college psychiatrist sort of asan entity, what does that mean
for families?
Dr. Bianca Busch (04:37):
So the college psychiatrist we're a group of
psychiatrists who prescribemedicines, provide therapy for
college students, and then wealso do have some ancillary
supports for parents and thatreally looks like maybe having a
session or two providingpsychoeducation or helping you
understand what your student isgoing through obviously only
with their written permission.
(04:58):
And then you know we've got afew other things.
We have a coping kit, which isfun.
It's kind of like a carepackage, a mental health-focused
care package, and we'll havesome other offerings coming up
around, testing with confidence,and then some group therapy
offerings later on this fall.
So we're really trying to thinkholistically about how to
(05:18):
support students and families,wow.
Elizabeth Hamblet (05:21):
That's great.
So for those of you watching ushere on Facebook, you can put
your questions for Dr Bush inthe chat and we will try to get
to them.
Vicki Nelson (05:30):
And with that let's go.
And in the meantime we have acollection of questions that
we're going to ask and you knowI said this is coming out in
October and it may be, and Ithink that is a very good time,
as I see students, it's aboutwhen they need things.
I was just looking at theschedule and I'm not sure we
(05:52):
might be able to do August too.
So just thinking August,october, whatever, it's always a
good time to talk about it.
It's always a good time.
It's always a good time to talkabout it.
It's always a good time.
It's always a good time to talkabout mental health, because
there are all kinds of reasonsall the way through, especially
the freshman year, that we seethem falling apart.
(06:14):
But often, as parents aregetting ready to send their kids
off and as kids are going,mental health may or may not be
top of mind of what they'rethinking about.
They're thinking about whatcomfort to get for the dorm and
they're thinking about whetherthey're going to make friends
and they're thinking about newacademics.
They have other things going on.
(06:34):
So I wonder if you could talk alittle bit about what aren't
freshmen and their parentsreally thinking about when it
comes to mental health atcollege and is there anything
they could or should be doingproactively before they go or at
that very important first sixweeks of college?
Dr. Bianca Busch (06:58):
Oh, that's a great question.
Yeah, you're right.
All of these things can be soconsuming, all the other sort of
tasks to get through the summerbefore the school starts, and
even registering for classesthat can take up a lot of time.
So I think that things thatsometimes surprise students and
parents dealing with if someonehas a romantic relationship at
(07:21):
home and they break up when theygo there, sometimes parents can
be looking out for that, but itmay take students by surprise
if those relationships don'twork out.
So, that's one topic.
I think another one can be theuse of substances.
That really can be shocking.
You have a whole new level offreedom as you enter college and
some parents big teens may havehad exposure to substances
(07:46):
during high school and some notat all, and this is the time
that they're really going to beexperimenting.
So that is something withrespect to mental health that
maybe families aren'tanticipating but is going to
come up when they come tocollege and then just sort of
the vicissitudes that will takeyou grades may take you through.
For a lot of students, this isgoing to be the first time that
(08:07):
they're really challenged.
It depends on where they'recoming from and where they're
going, but you know, this couldalso be a time where they're
really challenged and theyhaven't faced this before.
They've never been the studentto get the lowest grade in their
class.
Maybe they've been the studentto always get the highest grade
in their class.
So those three things are thetopics that I find come up and
(08:32):
surprise parents and so, likeyou know, what do you do about
it?
Because that's a variety oftopics and one thing that I
advise the parents to do is tojust be open and to be ready for
your young person to come andsay I'm having a hard time and
to be with them through that.
And then, as you're getting tothe campus, really making sure
(08:53):
they know where to get supports,you educate yourself as a
parent about what's available oncampus, and that's mental
health supports, that's academicsupports, accommodations if
they've had accommodations inhigh school and throughout their
other schooling and then alsophysical health knowing where
the student health center is, sothat if your student is like I
(09:15):
can't remember, you might beable to guide them or direct
them to the right place.
Vicki Nelson (09:23):
I think that's really helpful in having
students think about what canthey do proactively and to be
prepared, because those timeswhen mental health is shaky can
I want to say almost inevitableat some level as I watch these
(09:45):
students go through thatfreshman year.
So just to follow up on that alittle bit once the student goes
to school and hopefully knowswhere the supports are and
thinks ahead and there have beensome conversations with
students and parents before theyleft, with students and parents
before they left what canparents do from a distance to
(10:07):
support their student?
Dr. Bianca Busch (10:10):
That's a good question as they're not there.
Yeah, and there can be so muchanxiety for parents being away,
right, I think let's acknowledgethat first.
You know, one of the trainingsI've had is for it's called
SPACE Support for Parents ofAnxious Children, and one of the
things that we know is thatyour child might be anxious.
(10:32):
These things are hereditary,okay, and so parents might be
anxious too.
But the thing that we can do tohelp our young people is to
deal with our own anxieties,whether that's getting our own
support in therapy, having asupport group of other parents
to talk to.
And so when you say somethingthat you can do from a distance,
obviously you're thinking aboutcaring for your student from a
(10:53):
distance, but I want toencourage parents to think about
caring for themselves andmanaging their own anxieties,
because sometimes we canexacerbate our children's
anxieties with our own, and wealso can communicate that we
might not think they can do itif we're so anxious.
And so it's really importantthat you sort of work internally
(11:15):
, even if you don't think yourstudent can do it, that you
project that you know they cando it.
So that's one thing.
And again, being available, youknow it's not helpful I hear
from my students it's nothelpful when their parents are
calling them, often expecting totext them, to text them back
every day, all day, and so youknow that may have been the
(11:39):
standard in high school, butthis is a very important
transition for your young person, right?
You want them again to knowthat they can do it, they can
exist on their own, and so youknow.
A check-in every once in a whileand this is something you
should negotiate with yourstudent about how frequently
you'll check in Is it going tobe a phone call?
Is it going to be a text?
But having that communicationthey need to know that you're
(12:00):
there, right?
That's still really important,but you don't want to hammer
them with phone calls and texts.
So that's one thing.
How to care for them from afaris negotiating what that
communication is going to looklike.
And then I'll be curious tohear what you guys think about
tracking.
I think it's a no and thatmight be controversial, but I
(12:20):
say turn off the tracker, turnoff the tracker.
This is again about your youngperson experiencing independence
.
They're going to run intotrouble, period.
It's going to happen.
Elizabeth Hamblet (12:33):
Yeah and yeah , go ahead.
No, please go ahead.
Dr. Bianca Busch (12:36):
And so you know.
What's most important is thatthey know that you're there when
they run into trouble and thatthey can reach out to you for
some help or they know where toreach out for some help.
So I would encourage parents toturn those trackers off and let
their young person experiencelife, experience some difficult
(12:58):
times and it's going to decreaseyour anxiety as a parent.
You're not going to be checkingthat tracker all the time right
.
This is a transition for parents, and so I'm sympathetic to that
right.
This is a transition forparents too.
I'm a mom and oh my gosh I have.
My son is only three and Ican't even imagine when he gets
to be called a date, oh my gosh.
(13:19):
So you know I'm sympathetic.
I'm not saying this as a singleperson.
So you know I'm sympathetic.
I'm not saying this as a singleperson.
You know I have a little childand I can imagine the anxieties
I will feel as he grows olderand wants more independence.
So it's like it's kind of afine.
You know you will navigate thiswith your young person.
You ask what do you do fromafar?
(13:40):
You want to be supportive, butnot invasive, if that makes
sense.
Vicki Nelson (13:50):
I think that's.
Two things jump out at me fromwhat you've just said.
I mean it's all spot on.
But one is thatcounterintuitive thing that it
feels as though if you're theway to be supportive is to call
all the time and to check andall.
And it feels counterintuitiveto say I can support my student
best by stepping back, notstepping out, but stepping back
(14:11):
and not calling as much, so notraising my anxiety in that way.
That really jumped out.
And then I'm with you 100% onthe tracker and it relates.
I often talk to parents abouteven FERPA waivers because the
(14:32):
message that it sends to thestudent I don't trust you, I
need to track you, or I don'ttrust you, I need you to sign a
FERPA waiver because I don'tbelieve you're going to tell me
the truth, to sign a FERPAwaiver because I don't believe
you're going to tell me thetruth.
So taking that chance, turningoff the tracker, not asking for
a waiver for FERPA, but sayinglet's keep the communication
(14:54):
open, and then if things change,things change.
So thank you for that.
I know, elizabeth, you'retrying to say something.
Elizabeth Hamblet (15:02):
Well, I just want to jump in for those who
are new to this, what FERPA is.
So FERPA is just part of thealphabet soup at college Family
Educational Rights Privacy Act.
So if you've never sent astudent off to college once they
turn 18, and even if they arenot 18 when they start college
(15:22):
and this is not to do with dualenrollment programs where
they're still in high school,that's a whole different ball of
wax but if they are enrolled atcollege, they are considered
adults and the only thing thatthe college is willing to send
you without their permission isthe bill.
So you can expect to see that.
But other than that, ferpameans that you, for instance and
(15:43):
this is my area can't get yourstudent registered for
disability services.
If your student has registeredwith us or with the counseling
center, those people can't talkto you without your student's
permission.
And so I have a colleague whoruns a disability services
office who says that after hehas an intake meeting with
students, that after he has anintake meeting with students and
(16:05):
if they sign you know when theysign, excuse me, the FERPA
waiver if they're, especially iftheir parent is there they say
to them I just want to let youknow that at any time, you can,
you know, retract this or takeit back, and so your students do
have those rights.
I also wanted to mention thatmy friend Vicki and her
colleague and co-host LynnAbrahams have a lot to say about
(16:28):
a communication schedule, as DrBush has also recommended.
Vicki, is that a blog post oris just something you always
talk about?
That I'm trying to think ofBoth.
Vicki Nelson (16:37):
Okay, well, let's get those for the show notes.
For the show notes, I will linkto the blog posts, and I
believe we also have a podcastepisode.
They're blurring a little bitin my mind, but yes, it's
something that we talk about alot.
So, yeah, but making a plan.
Elizabeth Hamblet (16:54):
I saw, dr Bush, your very recent video on
getting your students ready togo and normalizing all of this
stuff that we are talking about,that it is going to be a
challenge and that that's to beexpected, but the importance of
communicating to them that youthink that they're capable, yeah
, there's a lot being said aboutparent anxiety and it's it's
(17:17):
all perfectly understandable,but it's really important what
messages you're sending.
Dr. Bianca Busch (17:24):
Absolutely.
I just wanted to comment on theFERPA Two things.
So I am on the National Networkof Depression Centers Task
Force for College Mental Health.
It's a very long title, butbasically it's a collection of
very smart psychiatrists acrossthe country at different college
mental health centers.
And this is one of the thingsthat we talk about is FERPA and
(17:44):
HIPAA, because these are twothings that prevent
communication for what's goingon with your student, which is
helpful.
Right Again, they're in thistransition.
We want to respect that.
They're 18, but it can alsosometimes make it difficult to
provide care.
So these are things that wetalk about and navigate with
students and I just I love thatidea of, yeah, let's keep it,
(18:05):
let's trust our students withtheir grades until maybe we see
otherwise.
Let's trust them with theirmental health until maybe we see
otherwise.
So I just wanted to highlightthat from the provider
perspective, it's protective forthe students, but sometimes it
can provide challenges for us tocommunicate when a student
really is in trouble and I justlike that.
Let's trust them until maybethey are showing some signs that
(18:28):
they need some help.
Elizabeth Hamblet (18:29):
Yeah, Dr Bush .
So while we're talking abouttrackers, one of the things that
struck me because I see this inmy professional community is
parents asking their student forthe login for the learning
management system so they cancheck their grades, which
parents may be accustomed todoing from their high school
days.
Dr. Bianca Busch (18:48):
Any advice on that I like to just let's see
how they do and then maybe givethem access later, right?
And so this is I say to mystudents hey, this is a big
opportunity.
You can show your parents thatyou can do it and that if you're
having a hard time, youcommunicate that to them so
they're not needing to log intothe system, right?
(19:10):
So I try to present it as as anopportunity for growth for both
the student and the parents that, hey, this is, this is big,
this is an opportunity for themto show that they can do it or
that they can be responsibleenough to manage themselves if
they are having a hard time.
So, yeah, I say let's notrelease that login, with the
(19:31):
exception, I do have somefamilies that I work with where
the students have had veryserious academic failure and we
didn't know until the end of thesemester.
And so then I say, okay, forthis next semester, let's have
some more transparency, are youokay that?
And then you know, let's changeyour password in the middle of
the semester, when things aregoing well, or you know, and and
(19:53):
we're all having a conversationabout this.
So, yeah, that's a good point,it's.
It's so different, probably foryou guys, when I was in college
, the grades came in the mail.
Vicki Nelson (20:01):
So yeah, yep, a different time, you had to run
out to the mailbox every day andmake sure you got them first.
Elizabeth Hamblet (20:10):
I don't think college students check their
campus mailboxes.
I mean, yeah, you have to tellthem that you sent them
something that they want to getthem to go get the mail.
Vicki Nelson (20:18):
In my experience there's money in that card you
might want to go.
Elizabeth Hamblet (20:24):
And just a reminder for those who are
watching us on Facebook.
We are recording this podcast,but you can also put your
questions in the comments here.
I am monitoring that, if youwant to ask Dr Bush your own
question.
Vicki Nelson (20:37):
And I just wanted to go back a little bit and, dr
Bush, maybe you can help usclarify, because we're talking
about FERPA and we're talkingabout HIPAA.
So FERPA had, you know, gradesand all of those, but if a
student is working with acounselor, either privately or
(20:58):
through the college healthcenter, is that covered by FERPA
or is that only covered byHIPAA?
Where's the crossover betweenthe two?
That's a great question.
Dr. Bianca Busch (21:11):
Yeah, it's covered by HIPAA.
Where's the crossover betweenthe two?
It's a great question.
Yeah, it's covered by HIPAA.
Vicki Nelson (21:14):
Okay.
Dr. Bianca Busch (21:14):
So the grades are covered by FERPA, but all of
the mental health care andmedical care will be covered by.
Vicki Nelson (21:21):
HIPAA Okay.
Dr. Bianca Busch (21:22):
Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act, which justbasically says that there has to
be written permission to shareany of your health information
with it if you are the age of 18.
Vicki Nelson (21:34):
So students and parents can agree to one and not
necessarily the other.
It's not.
It doesn't have to be alltogether and just as someone can
revoke the FERPA waiver at anytime.
Dr. Bianca Busch (21:47):
You can revoke a waiver for HIPAA at any time
as well.
So if you're coming to thestudent counseling center we
were just talking about this onour call last week what are the
practices across the country?
Some counseling centers willhave students sign a waiver or
ask them to sign a waiver for aclose friend or family right up
(22:09):
front.
Some will just ask for anemergency contact and that is
not leaving HIPAA.
That's just saying, in the caseof an extreme emergency, can we
contact someone, and so, yes,you can sign that and then your
parent can have access toinformation.
An important thing to know forparents is that you can always
provide information to studentcounseling, to the student
(22:31):
health center.
You can always provideinformation, but you may not be
able to get information aboutyour student's health unless
they have signed that release ofinformation or HIPAA waiver.
Elizabeth Hamblet (22:46):
I was going to say can a parent say to
counseling hey, my student'stelling me he's depressed, but
he won't come and see you.
You know, will you reach out?
Will they do that in your?
Dr. Bianca Busch (22:55):
experience, they can do that.
There's no guarantee that theywill reach out or that they can
reach out, but absolutely andthis gets so tough this is a
really nuanced populationbecause, yes, we can receive
that information is a reallynuanced population because, yes,
we can receive that information.
You know, um, I think differentcounseling centers will handle
(23:15):
it in a different way, but thestudent, it's really on the
student to come and seek thehelp themselves.
It's just so hard.
Elizabeth Hamblet (23:23):
So there's a really good question that that
just dovetails onto that.
So a parent has asked um what'sthe best way to establish
mental health services at theuniversity, and in this
situation the student actuallywants the parent to help do it,
but what are the limits orabilities of parents there?
Dr. Bianca Busch (23:44):
Yeah, sometimes students need help
Again.
This is why, as a developmentalpsychiatrist, I welcome parent
participation at certain pointsin a developmentally appropriate
way, because sometimes thestudent just needs help reaching
out.
And so what you can do as aparent is you will have to ask
your student to sign a releaseof information and then you can
(24:06):
help them coordinate care.
So they will have to go to thestudent counseling center
themselves, either send an email, phone call or physically walk
over and say I'd like to get anappointment for an intake and
then in that intake informationthey will sign a release of
information for their parents sothat their parent can sort of
(24:26):
help them coordinate.
You know, as an RA, in thedorms we don't know students.
People are coming to us with afresh start and they may have a
very long mental health historythat we don't know anything
about, and that is their right.
That is their right.
However, it can be very helpfulto get some context.
(24:47):
So you know, sometimes it ishelpful for parents to give a
little bit of information.
So that's what you do.
You will have to assist yourstudents.
You know, maybe you make thatphone call together to student
counseling, maybe you help thememail.
If they're in town with you,maybe you walk with them to the
student counseling center.
They might be able to ask theirresident head or resident
(25:09):
assistant to do that with them.
So if you're not physicallywith your student, those are
some resources that you can callon to get help.
And then they'll need to sign arelease of information so that
you can then help coordinate.
Hey, my child had a depressiveepisode when they were 16.
They had to be hospitalized.
Here are some medicines thatthey took.
They stopped taking them.
You know, there's probably alot of information that you
(25:32):
might be able to provide thatthe counselor or the
psychiatrist that they see atstudent counseling.
Elizabeth Hamblet (25:35):
In your experience, are counseling
centers very busy at thebeginning of the semester or is
it like is that a really goodtime for a student to just have
an initial you know meeting andjust say I don't know if I'm
going to need?
Can they go and say I don'tknow if I'm even going to need
anything, but I just wanted tocome?
Dr. Bianca Busch (25:55):
That's great.
I think that's a great timebecause the busiest times are
going to be like midterms andfinals right, you know that's
when it's everybody is having ahard time.
Um, and even you know, be on.
Uh, college students justchildren and adolescents are E.
Eds are the busiest.
Once the school year gets going, summer is a ghost town, but in
the fall is when things getreally busy, and so I think
(26:15):
that's a fantastic idea Duringorientation week, stop by.
They undoubtedly have freestuff that you can take home.
They got some freebies you cantake with you and just you know.
So you know where it is, youknow how to get there.
That's a fantastic idea, butit's never too late to reach out
for help.
So you know, middle of thesemester, end of the semester,
(26:39):
definitely do it then, but it isnice to sort of go and just at
least know where the place is inthe beginning.
Another thing that I willmention is that there can
sometimes be group therapyavailable, depending on the
counselor, and so you knowsometimes that group therapy is
arranged around playing videogames.
Do you know what I mean?
It's not even around a veryspecific diagnosis.
So that's a great way to pluginto your student counseling
center as well, so that you'recreating community and you just
(27:01):
sort of have a built-in supportsystem or group of people.
Vicki Nelson (27:08):
And how might a student go about thinking about
with whether individuallyworking with someone or group
might what might be best?
Dr. Bianca Busch (27:19):
yeah, that's a good question.
Um, you know, on that initialintake, your counselor that
you're working with may makesome recommendations for you.
For some people it depends onthe person's sort of makeup.
If you're socially anxious, anindividual is going to be better
.
If you're perhaps a little bitmore outgoing and worried about
the one-on-one that feels toointense, then a group may be
(27:41):
better.
So it just depends.
Or if you feel like, oh, Idon't know how to really talk
about my issues, a group mightbe better because that's going
to come out amongst the groupand you're going to say, hey,
that actually applies to me, orI felt that way too, or that
thing happened to me too.
So I think it depends oncomfort level.
(28:03):
I would say, if you're not sure,you feel like you need some
help, but you're not sure whatyou would talk about on an
individual level, groups can begood.
But if you're very anxious andyou don't want to reveal a lot
about yourself amongst a group,then an individual might be
better.
And then there areconsiderations for your specific
diagnoses as well.
But when you do your intakesession, you complete your
intake session with studentcounseling.
(28:23):
They'll be able to help guideyou and direct you, and it may
be helpful to have both, so Iwould say that too.
It may not be either, or.
But it may be helpful to haveboth, so I would say that too.
Elizabeth Hamblet (28:32):
It may not be either, or but it may be
helpful to have both.
So what are?
You know?
We've been talking about thecampus mental health center and
I mean we're assuming everycollege has one.
You know parents, as soon asthey're done watching this, can
get on the website for theschool their student's going to
be attending in the fall anddouble check and if they can't
find one, they can, you know,try the directory.
(28:53):
You know, call the main number.
But what are some otherresources that students and
their parents might not bethinking about that can support
mental health and nurture itthat aren't as obvious as the
counseling center?
Dr. Bianca Busch (29:09):
Well, that's a great question.
So at first I thought you werethinking about more mental
health specific resources, whichI have some recommendations for
those that are not on campus.
Yeah, well, we can do those tooI think are important and
sometimes I feel like don't getenough attention.
It's extracurricular activities.
It could be the set of patientsthat I see that are sort of
(29:31):
more on the anxious side tend tohave been historically
academically successful.
They're going in there andthinking got to get good grades,
got to get good grades, got toget good grades, so I can do
this internship, so then I cango to this graduate school.
Right, they are totallyacademically focused and the
thing that I find is, if you arethat student who's been
previously academicallysuccessful, all you're focusing
(29:54):
on is academics.
You get to college you get yourfirst C or D, you don't know
what to do with yourself.
And so the thing that I like tosay to my students is something
that can buoy you is, if youhave something going on outside
of class, you have somethingthat's taking your attention and
time that you enjoy, that youfind pleasurable.
(30:15):
So if you have that happen tohave that low grade, okay, we're
going to work on that, butyou've got something else that
is making you feel fulfilled,satisfied and accomplished.
So that is something that Ireally, you know for a lot of
high school students, theirparents do all the programming.
Ok, you're going to go to this,this sport, this, I'm picking
(30:35):
you up, right?
So college students aren'taccustomed to making that
programming schedule forthemselves.
So I think this is like one ofthe biggest things that I see in
that transition that falls bythe wayside is figuring out how
to involve yourself inextracurricular activities.
Falls by the wayside isfiguring out how to involve
yourself in extracurricularactivities, I don't know, do you
(30:56):
what?
Vicki Nelson (30:56):
do you guys see and again, it could be the
sample.
I really I'm really glad tohear you say that, because I do
hear a lot from students when Isay, what are you going to do
beyond the classroom?
And they say, well, no, I'm notgoing to join anything this
first semester because I justwant to focus on my studies.
So the student that you'retalking about that's just
(31:18):
totally focused on that.
It absolutely is a lot ofstudents.
And the other thing that I hearfrom some students is a lot you
talk about parent programming,but also they're doing
extracurricular activities inhigh school so often because
(31:39):
they know that's going to lookgood on their college
application and so they see itas serving that purpose.
And then they get to collegeand they say, well, oh good, I
don't have to doextracurriculars anymore.
So, thinking in a new way aboutit, as this is going to provide
me with a group of people,particularly some kinds of
(32:02):
activities that don't requireyou to audition or try out or
make the grade, but justsomething that you can walk in
the door and be part of yeah, Iwould really encourage that.
I agree.
Dr. Bianca Busch (32:17):
And you're right.
So some of my students that Iwork with in therapy we're
figuring out well, what doesgive you joy and pleasure?
Wow, yes, yeah, because theyhaven't really been afforded the
opportunity to.
Because, again, they're doingthese things because it will
look good on a collegeapplication.
But what do they actually like?
(32:37):
What do they actually enjoy?
And so we're working togetherto say, okay, what's available
on campus, let's try it out.
Maybe you'll like it, maybe youwon't, that's okay.
Elizabeth Hamblet (32:48):
Yeah, and our friend Harlan Cohen, who we
interviewed very recently, youknow, talks about finding the
places where you're going tosweat, finding your people,
finding you know and especiallyactivities, as Vicky said, where
you don't need to audition, youdon't have to pass it, you know
some kind of test to get in, soto speak.
You just get to participate.
Now I think it's reallyimportant to make sure that they
(33:12):
are thinking beyond the gradesand, again, for you to
communicate that right, as youwere talking earlier about their
parents communicating theirbelief that students can do it.
Also, the importance of havingyou know that full life that's
why they're at college right toimpart is to develop that.
So we did have a really goodquestion, you know, here we are
(33:33):
talking about parents trying toestablish an appropriate amount
of communication from them totheir student.
We had a question about what?
How do you help parents whenit's their student constantly
reaching out to them fromcollege?
Maybe they're anxious, whatever, whatever the reason is,
they're calling multiple times aday.
(33:55):
In this situation, you know,how can a parent help?
Dr. Bianca Busch (33:59):
That's good.
That's a really good question,yeah, so it's going to be
similar.
Again, the whole goal is tocommunicate that they can do it,
and so you might say okay, Iknow that you're really
concerned and you're reallynervous, right?
So, again, the space approach.
We want to acknowledge what'shappening for them and then we
want to say we know that this ishappening, we know that you're
(34:19):
worried or anxious, but we knowthat you can do it.
And so what I would encouragethem is say okay, if you're
calling me four times a day,let's take it down to three,
then let's take it down to two.
I'm not going to pick up thephone for you, but know that I
am here and we'll talk at theend of the day, right?
So you're going to have tocreate some sort of plan where
(34:42):
there is regular communication.
Your young person knows thatyou're there, but you are sort
of weaning them down and sayingokay, you normally call me, like
I said, three times a day.
Let's take it down to two.
Call me in the morning, call meat night and whatever it is
that you would want to talk tome about in the middle of the
day.
Take a note, write it down andwe can talk about it at the end
(35:03):
of the day.
But you're going to have tohold up your end of the bargain
as a parent and not pick up thephone end of the bargain as a
parent and not pick up the phone.
Elizabeth Hamblet (35:13):
And so how do parents cope for themselves on
their own while they're watchingthe phone calls and texts come
in.
Any recommendation?
Do they take a yoga class?
Do they binge a?
Dr. Bianca Busch (35:20):
TV show.
Yes, so this is the parenttransition, right?
I mean, depending on what yourparent is doing.
If you're a stay-at-home parent, for some of my parents who
this has been the case, this iswhat they would do.
This was such a big part oftheir identity is taking care of
their children, right?
So you've got to build in someactivities.
I've heard a great advice,actually, from a neighbor.
She's got four young adults andshe was a stay-at-home mom and
(35:44):
she said what she did was, twoyears before her final child was
going to college, she startedto pick up more activities for
herself, and so she was alreadystarting that transition.
And so, yes, this guy, pick upa yoga class, a new hobby, new
volunteering, or if you are aworking parent but your
(36:07):
afterschool hours are reallyoccupied with taking folks to
practice and doing that, thatyou pick up something for
yourself.
You undoubtedly had a hobby ora passion that you put to the
side for the last 20 years whileyou were raising this young
person and so encouraging themto go back to that and having
someone that you can rely onwhen you're feeling anxious like
(36:28):
, oh my gosh, I've got torespond to this text because my
young person might be reallyspiraling out, someone that you
can rely on, whether it's yourpartner or a friend, so they can
help you through those toughtimes for yourself, when you're
not responding to these messages.
Vicki Nelson (36:44):
It's really taking your own advice and we're
talking about encouragingstudents to find
extracurriculars and dosomething that they love, and
parents need to do the samething.
You know, the students focusedon academics, the parent is
focused on parenting and we allneed to broaden just a little
(37:05):
bit.
Dr. Bianca Busch (37:06):
It's a transition for everyone.
It's a transition for everyone.
Elizabeth Hamblet (37:09):
It's a transition for everyone.
It's a transition for everyone.
Any way for parents to and Irealize this is a really tough
question to differentiatebetween sort of typical expected
stress and anxiety in theirstudent and when they might
really need to get on that phoneand say, look, I'm really
worried about you, you need togo to counseling.
Are there any like kind ofobvious red flags for parents?
Dr. Bianca Busch (37:34):
Yeah, I think any big changes in the calling
patterns that you guys haven'ttalked about and established.
So if your young person isstarting to call you a lot more
frequently, then you mightwonder what's going on.
And then the calls have justdropped off completely.
And again you guys haven'ttalked about decreasing your
communication, have just droppedoff completely.
And again, you guys haven'ttalked about decreasing your
communication.
Those may be some red flags.
(37:54):
If you're FaceTiming, you knowsometimes parents can notice
that their student has lost alot of weight or gained a lot of
weight though this is a littlebit nuanced, but you know those
can be signs.
If you notice your young personis sleeping a lot, and this is
hard right.
This is why you would beanxious as a parent, because
(38:14):
you're not there with them soyou're not going to be able to
eat all of these things.
But if you can observe amountsthat they're not eating as
regularly I said that was sortof the weight loss sleeping more
, sleeping less you may not beable to tell from afar if
they're using more substances ornot, but if you do happen to
(38:37):
notice that sometimes students'friends will reach out to their
parents with concerns.
I've had that happen before, sothat's a time where you might
want to intervene.
I'm trying to think of anyothers.
Those are kind of the big onesand obviously, if someone is
talking about ending their ownlife, that is, you know,
(38:59):
obviously a time where we needto reach out right away.
Elizabeth Hamblet (39:03):
So, speaking of age, go ahead, becky.
Vicki Nelson (39:06):
Well, before we shift.
You know we talked earlierabout FERPA and if the student
has not signed a FERPA releaseor HIPAA, sometimes I remind
parents that that means that thecollege can't share any
information with you, but itdoesn't mean that someone from
(39:27):
the college can't listen to you.
So if you have concerns to calla dean, to call someone and say
I know you can't tell meanything, but here are my
concerns.
Would you check on my student?
And they can do that.
Elizabeth Hamblet (39:43):
They have teams.
I think it's some schools thatthat respond in that way, and so
the only thing I was going tosay cause it.
You mentioned sometimesstudents friends call.
So I was going to say, becauseyou mentioned sometimes
students' friends call, so I'mso old that there was a phone in
the room and if my parents wereconcerned they could have at
least called my roommate.
Everybody's got their ownphones now.
So I mean, when students go offto college they may not know
(40:07):
anybody.
Is it awkward, is itappropriate for parents to ask
for their kids' roommates' phonenumber?
I mean, like I'm just sort ofthinking to myself like how do
you do this?
Dr. Bianca Busch (40:19):
now I wouldn't recommend that.
I mean, when I was talkingabout the kids' friends reaching
out, it's often that they willget the phone number for their
friend's parent and they will.
The friend will contact theparent.
Oh wow, okay, yeah, it's oftenthat the friend will contact the
parent more.
So the reverse, yeah, Iprobably wouldn't recommend that
(40:40):
the parent would get thecontact information, the student
necessarily yeah, I'm not sure.
Vicki Nelson (40:45):
I think I I sometimes would recommend that,
but early on, like move-in dayas just part of that, I'm not
going to use this.
I don't intend to use this, butif there's an emergency and I
need to reach you and for somereason you're not answering your
phone, I need to be able toreach out to someone.
(41:08):
So that it's making it clear.
I'm not asking for this becauseI'm going to call your roommate
and check up on you all thetime, but it's just emergency
contact.
Might be a way that you have itand you tuck it away and you
hope you're never going to useit, but it's a way you could
(41:35):
going to use it, but it's a wayyou could, yeah.
Elizabeth Hamblet (41:36):
So what is the range of experiences you've
seen your patients havetransitioning to college?
You know, are there any lessonsin there for families?
I assume some of them go offand everything's pretty cool,
right, Like we need that.
That happens too right.
Dr. Bianca Busch (41:51):
It absolutely does.
And again, I have the I have askewed sample right I'm only
seeing folks who are having ahard time.
So, but yeah, many go off andeverything is just fine.
Many go off and have a hardtime and recover.
You know, I'm sure you'm surestudents have these experiences
(42:13):
that they're like oh my gosh, ifmy mom or my dad knew what
really happened, they would behorrified and they'll tell them
in their forties, if they evertell them at all.
So people are going out andthey're being successful and
they're doing just fine.
I think a message that I wouldlike to communicate to parents
is that if your student goes outand has a hard time, it's not
(42:34):
the end of the world.
If they go out and they have ahard time, they need to stop for
a little bit, they need to takea semester off, they need to
drop a class.
It's not the end of the world.
There are so many paths tosuccess.
I think that's the thing that Ilike to communicate to parents,
because sometimes we can, andeven our students can, think
(42:58):
that there's only one way to besuccessful.
There's only one way to be apre-med student, there's only
one way to be a pre-law student.
There's only one way and thereare so many paths, and so I
think that is the thing I try tohit home is, like you know,
every student is on their ownjourney, their own path.
What's important is that theykeep progressing forward, that
(43:20):
they're remaining healthy.
If they need to take some timeaway to be healthy, that's
really important and it ispossible for them to get back on
track.
So, yeah, that's probably oneof the biggest takeaways I would
say.
Vicki Nelson (43:37):
So if I could follow up a little bit about you
know the different paths andthe different tracks.
There are a couple of thingsthat I'm thinking about, and
it's some students who havenever been in treatment in high
school and this would be atotally new experience for them.
There are some who have allalong and they need to decide
(43:59):
whether they're going tocontinue with someone they've
been seeing before or start tosee someone new.
And then I'm loading.
See, I managed to load onequestion with about four things
here, but they're all related.
The other is, as a medicaldoctor, you sometimes prescribe
(44:20):
medication, so I'm thinkingabout students who may have
never had medication before,students who have had medication
and have stopped taking it,students who are starting.
How does all of that work interms of students starting or
stopping medication treatment?
Yeah, All of the above.
Dr. Bianca Busch (44:41):
Yeah, okay, so a couple of important things to
think about here.
We, as medical doctors, arelicensed at the state level, and
so when a student goes tocollege, if they're going to
college out of state, unlesstheir doctor has a license in
that state, they will not beable to continue to care for
(45:02):
them.
Now, if their regimen is stableand nothing is changing, it is
likely that the doctor canprescribe to a local pharmacy
and the patient can pick up themedicine, With the exception of
controlled substances for whichyou have to have a state license
, and those are things likestimulants for ADHD.
(45:22):
Those are the most commonthings that college students are
going to be taking.
So this is one of the reasonswhy I founded the College
Psychiatrist, because thisbecomes a real challenge for
families.
If you've got someone takingcare of you at home, you go out
of state like sorry, I can'tprescribe there.
Often you can get some helpfrom College Mental Health.
They will have someone who canprescribe medicines, but they
are not always willing toprescribe stimulants.
(45:43):
They will have someone who canprescribe medicines, but they
are not always willing toprescribe stimulants, and so
this can be pretty tricky.
So what you want to do is checkahead of time to see if your
counseling center or the studenthealth center is willing to
prescribe your stimulants and,if not, that you're identifying
a local psychiatrist or mentalhealth provider or family
medicine doctor someone with anMD, nurse practitioners can also
(46:04):
prescribe who can do that foryou on your local campus.
So that's something to that'sone of the biggest things to
keep in mind.
Now, in terms of starting andstopping medications, I think it
depends on the condition.
I am the kind of prescriberthat I never say that someone is
committed to lifelongmedications with the exception
(46:24):
of a few diagnoses, and that'sprobably schizophrenia and maybe
even bipolar disorder,depending on your illness.
Other than that things likeanxiety and depression it is
possible for you to startmedications, get better, get
some great skills and stop themedication.
So this is a long answer.
It's a long question.
(46:45):
It's a long question.
And so you know.
It is possible that they havebeen on a medication in high
school, but they will notcontinue in college.
It is possible that they neverhad medication in high school
and they really do now need itin college, and so you know.
For these reasons, I thinkagain the parents working with
(47:07):
the students say okay, you saw atherapist in high school and
that was enough for your anxietyor depression.
If things get worse, let's makesure you get back into therapy
or counseling, and then theremight be a need for medication.
And again, the student healthcenters are good about having
all of those resources availableand saying okay, now is the
(47:28):
time for you, we've done allthat we can do with therapy, or
therapy is maybe just not enoughright now and we should
consider medication.
So it's kind of a case by casething, but, just as you stated,
either can be true that you havenot started medication in high
school and you do find that youneed it, and vice versa.
(47:48):
Another thing that I find to betrue, outside of depression and
anxiety, is that someone mayhave been diagnosed with ADHD as
a young child and, depending onthe parent preference, they may
have said no, we're not goingto do medication.
Let's just get you executivefunction coaching, let's just
really make sure we have thesesystems in place and let's
forego medicine.
Well, oftentimes what willhappen when students get to high
(48:11):
school or even to professionalschool, is that the academic
load is such that all of thesystems that they put in place
are overwhelmed by the volume ofthe information, by the
complexities of the information,that they're required and they
may actually need medication.
So I have a fair number ofstudents that they may start
stimulants for the first timewith me once they're in college
or in professional school, eventhough they have a longstanding
(48:33):
diagnosis of ADHD.
And sometimes they don't evenhave the diagnosis of ADHD yet
and they're just getting it as ayoung adult or an adult.
So that's a long answer.
I hope I answered your question.
Vicki Nelson (48:46):
Yeah, I mean they need to be flexible and not say
I've never needed this before,I'm not going to need it now, or
I've always needed this.
Things change a lot in college.
It's very different.
Dr. Bianca Busch (49:03):
One other thing that I would add.
That's interesting because nowthe student is 18.
So you don't actually need yourparents' consent to start the
medication.
However, your parent is still apart of your life, and so
sometimes that can influence astudent's decision to start or
stop medication.
If their parent is like, no,you don't need medication, but
they kind of want to try it, itcan maybe prevent them from
getting the help that they need.
(49:23):
So, again, as we're inspiringindependence, I would say,
because everyone has differentattitudes about medications,
understandably so.
None of the medications that weprescribe are without side
effects, so I can understand thecaution, but the thing that I
encourage families to do is makesure you're educated about what
(49:46):
the medicines are and thenreally encouraging your young
person to make a good decisionfor themselves.
So that's another complexitythat we talk about as
psychiatrists.
Like we really want to startthis, but the parent isn't on
board, even though they don'thave to be on board, and so
that's preventing the treatmentfrom going forward.
Elizabeth Hamblet (50:07):
I was thinking as you were talking
about, you know, students andI've seen this working at the
college level going off theirmeds because they've decided
they don't need it.
And, just, you know, thinkingabout what I would then
generalize is resistance totreatment, let's just say so.
One of your videos you talkedabout how anxiety affects not
just you know, female, cisgenderfemale students, but cisgender
(50:29):
male students.
And so do you have any advicefor parents, especially because
for some you know individualgroups of kinds of students,
there's a resistance to saying Ineed help.
You know, maybe it affectstheir self-esteem to think that,
or it is, you know, a culturalthing for them to.
You know, their family isdiscouraged seeking that kind of
(50:52):
help.
Any kind of suggestions?
That's a good question.
Dr. Bianca Busch (50:58):
Yeah, you know , when I have this families
before me in my clinic space, Inormally am exploring why they
might be resistant, and so manydifferent things come up.
A family member had a badexperience with the treatment
system or medication.
So you know, some of that workpeople can certainly do on their
(51:20):
own.
But to ask themselves, why isit that you don't think that
this could be helpful?
Is it because of a previousexperience?
Is that experience likely to bethe case here at this
institution or with thisprovider or this treater?
And then to also ask about thecost and the benefit, the thing
(51:42):
that I highlight to people isthat, um, the suffering that
they have, they don't have tohave, um, and that's.
You know, if there's aresistance to medication, I find
much more buy-in withbehavioral approaches or even
natural supplements, and sothat's more thinking about how
to get buy-in as a provider.
(52:03):
But I just highlight like, hey,this doesn't have to be the
case, and I even will use otherpatients that I've had as
examples and say you know, whenthey did this treatment or when
they started this medication,they were surprised to realize
how much anxiety they wereactually experiencing, and they
didn't even know because theyjust had been living with it for
(52:23):
so long they didn't even reallyknow that they could live a
different way, and so sometimesI'll use that as an example.
So yeah, that's.
I think trying to find positiveexamples of people who have
gotten treatment can be helpful,and I do try to really be
respectful of culture, um,experiences, um, when I am
(52:49):
trying to bring someone on boardfor treatment.
Elizabeth Hamblet (52:53):
And I want to add, for those who are
listening um, one of theconcerns you know, working in
disability services at thecollege level that I hear about
why students don't want to comeand get their accommodations, is
they are concerned that thatwill somehow be noted on their
transcript from college thatthey used accommodations, yeah I
mean, and whether they'relooking for a job afterward or
(53:14):
graduate school.
So let's be really clear thatcollege transcripts do not say
anything about any supports thatstudents have accessed.
Do not say anything about anysupports that students have
accessed and our office and thecampus counseling office are not
going to be sending.
If a student's applying to gradschool and wants their
transcripts sent, the college isnot going to send a record from
(53:36):
our office or from counselingor for any other resources.
Yeah right, but I understandwhy people A they just don't
know and are worried about that,but that this treatment is
completely confidential.
Professors don't know about it.
Nobody needs to know that thesestudents are seeking help.
(53:57):
It's private.
Dr. Bianca Busch (53:59):
That's a good point yeah.
Vicki Nelson (54:02):
That's a good point, yeah.
So I think we could go on andon, because this is really
important and a big topic, butunfortunately we probably do
need to begin to wind up.
So I'm wondering you producevideos and all on so many topics
(54:23):
.
You produce videos and all onso many topics.
What have we not asked youabout that you wish you had had
an opportunity to talk about?
Is there anything, wrapping up,that you'd like to make clear,
make a statement about?
Dr. Bianca Busch (54:50):
The only other thing that I didn't get to
mention before.
It's just about substance use,and this is, I guess, maybe my
own personal soapbox.
Is that I really want?
families to be honest withthemselves and your young person
about the family history ofaddiction.
It's a very hard topic, but Ithink your young person needs to
know, before they're going intocollege and they're exposed to
so many different things,whether or not they have a
genetic tendency towardsaddiction.
Because I see young people whojust don't know and they're
(55:13):
wondering why it is so hard forthem to stop vaping, smoking
marijuana, drinking alcohol.
And you know, they're justgenetically predisposed drinking
alcohol and they're justgenetically predisposed.
So that is something that Ithink I always will want to say
is that if you're having a hardtime thinking about it or not
(55:37):
sure how to approach it withyour young person gosh, my mom
is just blunt, right.
So many people have familyhistory of addiction, certainly
on both sides of my family, andso my mom was just like, hey,
you have to be careful becausethis is on both sides Right, and
so you come into yourexperience with a different
mentality than like, oh, thisisn't going to affect me, I can
(55:57):
just have however many drinksand set it down Right.
So that is one thing I want tohit home.
Please talk to your youngpeople about this.
If you're having a hard time,you can always go to
organizations like NAMI for moreinformation, or even AA or
Al-Anon.
These are all sort ofaddiction-focused or mental
(56:22):
health-focused resources tofigure out how to talk about it.
You can really, I think, saveyour young person from a tough
path if you can be honest withthem, even if you yourself have
a history of addiction that theydon't know about.
It can be a good time for youto talk about that.
Elizabeth Hamblet (56:42):
Vicki, as a fan of Dr Bush's, I know she's
also talked about sleep, whichwe haven't touched on.
Dr. Bianca Busch (56:48):
Oh, good guess .
Sleep is really important.
Tough for college studentsbecause their schedules are so,
so varied.
But sleep, oh my goodness, it'sso important for mood, it's so
important for anxiety, forconcentration, for the
consolidation of memories.
All that studying that you'redoing, you brain has to have
time to put it all together.
(57:09):
So, of course, all-nighters arenot the best way to get things
done, even though it seems likea good idea.
So, trying to plan if you canand get the best sleep that you
can You're not going to geteight hours every night, that's
unreasonable.
But as many nights as you can,getting, you know, seven, seven
to nine hours of sleep.
And then, when you get home forbreaks, parents let them sleep
(57:31):
for a little bit.
They're okay, I promise they'remost likely okay.
Vicki Nelson (57:35):
They need to sleep for a little bit, so yeah, I'm
for parents and students to hearthat about sleep from any
direction that it can come.
When I mentioned to my studentsyou know, are you getting sleep
I?
They usually laugh at me.
So you know they don'tunderstand what happens when
(57:58):
you're sleeping.
So, but yes, we need to wrap up.
Um do, would you?
Can you just share with us?
If parents would like to findout more about you, contact you.
What should they know?
Dr. Bianca Busch (58:15):
absolutely, absolutely so.
You can find us atwwwcollegepsychiatristcom that's
website.
We're on all social channelsFacebook, tiktok, instagram.
At college psychiatrist.
You can also follow me, drBianca Bush or the college
psychiatrist on LinkedIn.
We'll have information there,but through any of those
channels you'll hear aboutwhat's upcoming, the things that
(58:37):
we have to offer and justgeneral information, and we
always love to hear back frompeople.
So if there's something youwant to know about, like comment
, um, you know, in any of theposts or things like, hey, what
about this, and we'll make avideo about it, we'll address it
and let's see what else to say.
We have our coping kit wasavailable on Etsy that is a
(58:57):
platform I didn't mention butit's a great care package.
You can get that in, get it inrotation now, order it, send it
to your student.
It's got over 10 items thatpromote good mental health.
It's a lot of fun.
It's got some fun stickers thatthey can put on their water
bottles or laptops, and thenwe're going to have some great
(59:17):
stuff coming up about testingwith confidence.
I find that anxiety can reallyget in the way of students
showing exactly what they knowon their exams, and so we have a
book coming out about testanxiety with some tips that
students can really use.
We also have a one on one thatwe can do like therapy wise.
That is fantastic.
Incorporates CBT for anxietyand then some integrative
(59:40):
psychiatry, and then we're goingto be rolling that into a
course when I find all the timeto do these things, but the
ebook is really in motion, sojust look out for those things.
And then some group therapy inthe fall as well.
So many exciting things comingfrom us.
Vicki Nelson (59:55):
Wow, so much going on.
Well, I know we both want tothank you for the people who
were able to join us today onElizabeth's Facebook, and this
episode will be forthcomingmaybe in August.
It may not be till October.
We're going to see how thisschedule pans out, but we will
(01:00:17):
be sure to let everybody knowwhen that's going to happen, and
there's never a bad time tolearn more about student mental
health.
It's so important.
So thank you so much forjoining us.
Elizabeth Hamblet (01:00:31):
Thank you for having me.
Thanks everybody.
Welcome to the College Parent Central podcast.
Whether your child is justbeginning the college admission
process or is already in college, this podcast is for you.
You'll find food for thoughtand information about college
and about navigating thatdelicate balance of guidance,
involvement and knowing when toget out of the way.
(00:31):
Join your hosts as they sharesupport and a celebration of the
amazing experience of having achild in college.
Elizabeth Hamblet (00:52):
Welcome everybody.
We are here on Facebook andalso recording for the College
Parents Central Podcast.
If you have not subscribedalready, what are you waiting
for?
I'm a subscriber as well as aco-host and a fan.
We are here today to talk to DrBianca Bush, who is the college
psychiatrist, and I am soexcited to have her here.
We are doing this in July,which is a really good time to
(01:16):
start talking about mentalhealth for our students who are
headed to college for the firsttime, perhaps in the fall, or
for those who are returning.
So I'm hoping you will get alot out of this conversation and
have a lot of steps that youcan take when we are all done.
Again, if you want to re-listento this podcast, make sure that
(01:37):
you subscribe.
It will hit your podcast feedsometime July, end of July,
Vicki.
Vicki Nelson (01:44):
I am checking the date.
I should have that at the tipof my tongue.
It will be released October,early October, right when
college students may be lookingfor some help and support.
Elizabeth Hamblet (02:05):
But in the meantime, if you are watching
this and want to share it withyour friends, it will live here
on my Facebook page under LDAdvisory, and it will also be on
my YouTube channel so yourfriends can watch it there.
But if, like me, you have a dogto walk and that's when you
listen to your podcasts, you'llhave to wait until October to
see that.
(02:25):
So, dr Bush, I have come acrossyou on social media and loved
what you're putting out.
But before we get started, tellus a little bit about yourself.
How did you get into psychiatry?
How did you get interested incollege students, sort of as a
specialty?
Dr. Bianca Busch (02:43):
Yeah, so I for a long time knew that I wanted
to be a medical doctor and, youknow, entered in medical school
thinking I would do pediatrics,because I've worked with
families and children for a longtime.
I had seven years betweencollege and medical school and
so, you know, got there.
Pediatrics was interesting, butthen I had my psychiatry
rotation and it was fascinating.
(03:03):
You're really taking everythingabout a person, taking that
into consideration, about howthat's impacting their entire
body, and I was hooked.
So in child and adolescentpsychiatry, I'm an adult child
and adolescent psychiatrist.
You can really serve all agesand you're working with families
, which was really my desire inpursuing pediatrics.
(03:26):
So that's how it came to be andI am still so excited and
thrilled by the choice.
I love my work and, as I hadstarted my private practice in
2020 doing the work, I hadlicenses in multiple states and
just sort of found that I washelpful for college students, as
they would go away to school.
(03:46):
Oftentimes they'll lose accessto their therapist or their
psychiatrist, but having themultiple state licenses really
did help me stay connected tostudents and so, yeah, I just
found that I had fun with themand then, as a child and
adolescent psychiatrist, we arereally trained to work with
families, and I found thatthat's something that's so
(04:06):
needed.
Even when a student is 18 or 19or 20, they're still
transitioning away from the homemost often, and their parents
are in transition.
They're going through their owntransition and sometimes need
some help.
So that is really how thecollege psychiatrist came to be.
Is that I found, hey, I reallylike this work and I found that
(04:28):
there was also a need.
Elizabeth Hamblet (04:30):
And so for those who have not heard of the
college psychiatrist sort of asan entity, what does that mean
for families?
Dr. Bianca Busch (04:37):
So the college psychiatrist we're a group of
psychiatrists who prescribemedicines, provide therapy for
college students, and then wealso do have some ancillary
supports for parents and thatreally looks like maybe having a
session or two providingpsychoeducation or helping you
understand what your student isgoing through obviously only
with their written permission.
(04:58):
And then you know we've got afew other things.
We have a coping kit, which isfun.
It's kind of like a carepackage, a mental health-focused
care package, and we'll havesome other offerings coming up
around, testing with confidence,and then some group therapy
offerings later on this fall.
So we're really trying to thinkholistically about how to
(05:18):
support students and families,wow.
Elizabeth Hamblet (05:21):
That's great.
So for those of you watching ushere on Facebook, you can put
your questions for Dr Bush inthe chat and we will try to get
to them.
Vicki Nelson (05:30):
And with that let's go.
And in the meantime we have acollection of questions that
we're going to ask and you knowI said this is coming out in
October and it may be, and Ithink that is a very good time,
as I see students, it's aboutwhen they need things.
I was just looking at theschedule and I'm not sure we
(05:52):
might be able to do August too.
So just thinking August,october, whatever, it's always a
good time to talk about it.
It's always a good time.
It's always a good time to talkabout it.
It's always a good time.
It's always a good time to talkabout mental health, because
there are all kinds of reasonsall the way through, especially
the freshman year, that we seethem falling apart.
(06:14):
But often, as parents aregetting ready to send their kids
off and as kids are going,mental health may or may not be
top of mind of what they'rethinking about.
They're thinking about whatcomfort to get for the dorm and
they're thinking about whetherthey're going to make friends
and they're thinking about newacademics.
They have other things going on.
(06:34):
So I wonder if you could talk alittle bit about what aren't
freshmen and their parentsreally thinking about when it
comes to mental health atcollege and is there anything
they could or should be doingproactively before they go or at
that very important first sixweeks of college?
Dr. Bianca Busch (06:58):
Oh, that's a great question.
Yeah, you're right.
All of these things can be soconsuming, all the other sort of
tasks to get through the summerbefore the school starts, and
even registering for classesthat can take up a lot of time.
So I think that things thatsometimes surprise students and
parents dealing with if someonehas a romantic relationship at
(07:21):
home and they break up when theygo there, sometimes parents can
be looking out for that, but itmay take students by surprise
if those relationships don'twork out.
So, that's one topic.
I think another one can be theuse of substances.
That really can be shocking.
You have a whole new level offreedom as you enter college and
some parents big teens may havehad exposure to substances
(07:46):
during high school and some notat all, and this is the time
that they're really going to beexperimenting.
So that is something withrespect to mental health that
maybe families aren'tanticipating but is going to
come up when they come tocollege and then just sort of
the vicissitudes that will takeyou grades may take you through.
For a lot of students, this isgoing to be the first time that
(08:07):
they're really challenged.
It depends on where they'recoming from and where they're
going, but you know, this couldalso be a time where they're
really challenged and theyhaven't faced this before.
They've never been the studentto get the lowest grade in their
class.
Maybe they've been the studentto always get the highest grade
in their class.
So those three things are thetopics that I find come up and
(08:32):
surprise parents and so, likeyou know, what do you do about
it?
Because that's a variety oftopics and one thing that I
advise the parents to do is tojust be open and to be ready for
your young person to come andsay I'm having a hard time and
to be with them through that.
And then, as you're getting tothe campus, really making sure
(08:53):
they know where to get supports,you educate yourself as a
parent about what's available oncampus, and that's mental
health supports, that's academicsupports, accommodations if
they've had accommodations inhigh school and throughout their
other schooling and then alsophysical health knowing where
the student health center is, sothat if your student is like I
(09:15):
can't remember, you might beable to guide them or direct
them to the right place.
Vicki Nelson (09:23):
I think that's really helpful in having
students think about what canthey do proactively and to be
prepared, because those timeswhen mental health is shaky can
I want to say almost inevitableat some level as I watch these
(09:45):
students go through thatfreshman year.
So just to follow up on that alittle bit once the student goes
to school and hopefully knowswhere the supports are and
thinks ahead and there have beensome conversations with
students and parents before theyleft, with students and parents
before they left what canparents do from a distance to
(10:07):
support their student?
Dr. Bianca Busch (10:10):
That's a good question as they're not there.
Yeah, and there can be so muchanxiety for parents being away,
right, I think let's acknowledgethat first.
You know, one of the trainingsI've had is for it's called
SPACE Support for Parents ofAnxious Children, and one of the
things that we know is thatyour child might be anxious.
(10:32):
These things are hereditary,okay, and so parents might be
anxious too.
But the thing that we can do tohelp our young people is to
deal with our own anxieties,whether that's getting our own
support in therapy, having asupport group of other parents
to talk to.
And so when you say somethingthat you can do from a distance,
obviously you're thinking aboutcaring for your student from a
(10:53):
distance, but I want toencourage parents to think about
caring for themselves andmanaging their own anxieties,
because sometimes we canexacerbate our children's
anxieties with our own, and wealso can communicate that we
might not think they can do itif we're so anxious.
And so it's really importantthat you sort of work internally
(11:15):
, even if you don't think yourstudent can do it, that you
project that you know they cando it.
So that's one thing.
And again, being available, youknow it's not helpful I hear
from my students it's nothelpful when their parents are
calling them, often expecting totext them, to text them back
every day, all day, and so youknow that may have been the
(11:39):
standard in high school, butthis is a very important
transition for your young person, right?
You want them again to knowthat they can do it, they can
exist on their own, and so youknow.
A check-in every once in a whileand this is something you
should negotiate with yourstudent about how frequently
you'll check in Is it going tobe a phone call?
Is it going to be a text?
But having that communicationthey need to know that you're
(12:00):
there, right?
That's still really important,but you don't want to hammer
them with phone calls and texts.
So that's one thing.
How to care for them from afaris negotiating what that
communication is going to looklike.
And then I'll be curious tohear what you guys think about
tracking.
I think it's a no and thatmight be controversial, but I
(12:20):
say turn off the tracker, turnoff the tracker.
This is again about your youngperson experiencing independence
.
They're going to run intotrouble, period.
It's going to happen.
Elizabeth Hamblet (12:33):
Yeah and yeah , go ahead.
No, please go ahead.
Dr. Bianca Busch (12:36):
And so you know.
What's most important is thatthey know that you're there when
they run into trouble and thatthey can reach out to you for
some help or they know where toreach out for some help.
So I would encourage parents toturn those trackers off and let
their young person experiencelife, experience some difficult
(12:58):
times and it's going to decreaseyour anxiety as a parent.
You're not going to be checkingthat tracker all the time right
.
This is a transition for parents, and so I'm sympathetic to that
right.
This is a transition forparents too.
I'm a mom and oh my gosh I have.
My son is only three and Ican't even imagine when he gets
to be called a date, oh my gosh.
(13:19):
So you know I'm sympathetic.
I'm not saying this as a singleperson.
So you know I'm sympathetic.
I'm not saying this as a singleperson.
You know I have a little childand I can imagine the anxieties
I will feel as he grows olderand wants more independence.
So it's like it's kind of afine.
You know you will navigate thiswith your young person.
You ask what do you do fromafar?
(13:40):
You want to be supportive, butnot invasive, if that makes
sense.
Vicki Nelson (13:50):
I think that's.
Two things jump out at me fromwhat you've just said.
I mean it's all spot on.
But one is thatcounterintuitive thing that it
feels as though if you're theway to be supportive is to call
all the time and to check andall.
And it feels counterintuitiveto say I can support my student
best by stepping back, notstepping out, but stepping back
(14:11):
and not calling as much, so notraising my anxiety in that way.
That really jumped out.
And then I'm with you 100% onthe tracker and it relates.
I often talk to parents abouteven FERPA waivers because the
(14:32):
message that it sends to thestudent I don't trust you, I
need to track you, or I don'ttrust you, I need you to sign a
FERPA waiver because I don'tbelieve you're going to tell me
the truth, to sign a FERPAwaiver because I don't believe
you're going to tell me thetruth.
So taking that chance, turningoff the tracker, not asking for
a waiver for FERPA, but sayinglet's keep the communication
(14:54):
open, and then if things change,things change.
So thank you for that.
I know, elizabeth, you'retrying to say something.
Elizabeth Hamblet (15:02):
Well, I just want to jump in for those who
are new to this, what FERPA is.
So FERPA is just part of thealphabet soup at college Family
Educational Rights Privacy Act.
So if you've never sent astudent off to college once they
turn 18, and even if they arenot 18 when they start college
(15:22):
and this is not to do with dualenrollment programs where
they're still in high school,that's a whole different ball of
wax but if they are enrolled atcollege, they are considered
adults and the only thing thatthe college is willing to send
you without their permission isthe bill.
So you can expect to see that.
But other than that, ferpameans that you, for instance and
(15:43):
this is my area can't get yourstudent registered for
disability services.
If your student has registeredwith us or with the counseling
center, those people can't talkto you without your student's
permission.
And so I have a colleague whoruns a disability services
office who says that after hehas an intake meeting with
students, that after he has anintake meeting with students and
(16:05):
if they sign you know when theysign, excuse me, the FERPA
waiver if they're, especially iftheir parent is there they say
to them I just want to let youknow that at any time, you can,
you know, retract this or takeit back, and so your students do
have those rights.
I also wanted to mention thatmy friend Vicki and her
colleague and co-host LynnAbrahams have a lot to say about
(16:28):
a communication schedule, as DrBush has also recommended.
Vicki, is that a blog post oris just something you always
talk about?
That I'm trying to think ofBoth.
Vicki Nelson (16:37):
Okay, well, let's get those for the show notes.
For the show notes, I will linkto the blog posts, and I
believe we also have a podcastepisode.
They're blurring a little bitin my mind, but yes, it's
something that we talk about alot.
So, yeah, but making a plan.
Elizabeth Hamblet (16:54):
I saw, dr Bush, your very recent video on
getting your students ready togo and normalizing all of this
stuff that we are talking about,that it is going to be a
challenge and that that's to beexpected, but the importance of
communicating to them that youthink that they're capable, yeah
, there's a lot being said aboutparent anxiety and it's it's
(17:17):
all perfectly understandable,but it's really important what
messages you're sending.
Dr. Bianca Busch (17:24):
Absolutely.
I just wanted to comment on theFERPA Two things.
So I am on the National Networkof Depression Centers Task
Force for College Mental Health.
It's a very long title, butbasically it's a collection of
very smart psychiatrists acrossthe country at different college
mental health centers.
And this is one of the thingsthat we talk about is FERPA and
(17:44):
HIPAA, because these are twothings that prevent
communication for what's goingon with your student, which is
helpful.
Right Again, they're in thistransition.
We want to respect that.
They're 18, but it can alsosometimes make it difficult to
provide care.
So these are things that wetalk about and navigate with
students and I just I love thatidea of, yeah, let's keep it,
(18:05):
let's trust our students withtheir grades until maybe we see
otherwise.
Let's trust them with theirmental health until maybe we see
otherwise.
So I just wanted to highlightthat from the provider
perspective, it's protective forthe students, but sometimes it
can provide challenges for us tocommunicate when a student
really is in trouble and I justlike that.
Let's trust them until maybethey are showing some signs that
(18:28):
they need some help.
Elizabeth Hamblet (18:29):
Yeah, Dr Bush .
So while we're talking abouttrackers, one of the things that
struck me because I see this inmy professional community is
parents asking their student forthe login for the learning
management system so they cancheck their grades, which
parents may be accustomed todoing from their high school
days.
Dr. Bianca Busch (18:48):
Any advice on that I like to just let's see
how they do and then maybe givethem access later, right?
And so this is I say to mystudents hey, this is a big
opportunity.
You can show your parents thatyou can do it and that if you're
having a hard time, youcommunicate that to them so
they're not needing to log intothe system, right?
(19:10):
So I try to present it as as anopportunity for growth for both
the student and the parents that, hey, this is, this is big,
this is an opportunity for themto show that they can do it or
that they can be responsibleenough to manage themselves if
they are having a hard time.
So, yeah, I say let's notrelease that login, with the
(19:31):
exception, I do have somefamilies that I work with where
the students have had veryserious academic failure and we
didn't know until the end of thesemester.
And so then I say, okay, forthis next semester, let's have
some more transparency, are youokay that?
And then you know, let's changeyour password in the middle of
the semester, when things aregoing well, or you know, and and
(19:53):
we're all having a conversationabout this.
So, yeah, that's a good point,it's.
It's so different, probably foryou guys, when I was in college
, the grades came in the mail.
Vicki Nelson (20:01):
So yeah, yep, a different time, you had to run
out to the mailbox every day andmake sure you got them first.
Elizabeth Hamblet (20:10):
I don't think college students check their
campus mailboxes.
I mean, yeah, you have to tellthem that you sent them
something that they want to getthem to go get the mail.
Vicki Nelson (20:18):
In my experience there's money in that card you
might want to go.
Elizabeth Hamblet (20:24):
And just a reminder for those who are
watching us on Facebook.
We are recording this podcast,but you can also put your
questions in the comments here.
I am monitoring that, if youwant to ask Dr Bush your own
question.
Vicki Nelson (20:37):
And I just wanted to go back a little bit and, dr
Bush, maybe you can help usclarify, because we're talking
about FERPA and we're talkingabout HIPAA.
So FERPA had, you know, gradesand all of those, but if a
student is working with acounselor, either privately or
(20:58):
through the college healthcenter, is that covered by FERPA
or is that only covered byHIPAA?
Where's the crossover betweenthe two?
That's a great question.
Dr. Bianca Busch (21:11):
Yeah, it's covered by HIPAA.
Where's the crossover betweenthe two?
It's a great question.
Yeah, it's covered by HIPAA.
Vicki Nelson (21:14):
Okay.
Dr. Bianca Busch (21:14):
So the grades are covered by FERPA, but all of
the mental health care andmedical care will be covered by.
Vicki Nelson (21:21):
HIPAA Okay.
Dr. Bianca Busch (21:22):
Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act, which justbasically says that there has to
be written permission to shareany of your health information
with it if you are the age of 18.
Vicki Nelson (21:34):
So students and parents can agree to one and not
necessarily the other.
It's not.
It doesn't have to be alltogether and just as someone can
revoke the FERPA waiver at anytime.
Dr. Bianca Busch (21:47):
You can revoke a waiver for HIPAA at any time
as well.
So if you're coming to thestudent counseling center we
were just talking about this onour call last week what are the
practices across the country?
Some counseling centers willhave students sign a waiver or
ask them to sign a waiver for aclose friend or family right up
(22:09):
front.
Some will just ask for anemergency contact and that is
not leaving HIPAA.
That's just saying, in the caseof an extreme emergency, can we
contact someone, and so, yes,you can sign that and then your
parent can have access toinformation.
An important thing to know forparents is that you can always
provide information to studentcounseling, to the student
(22:31):
health center.
You can always provideinformation, but you may not be
able to get information aboutyour student's health unless
they have signed that release ofinformation or HIPAA waiver.
Elizabeth Hamblet (22:46):
I was going to say can a parent say to
counseling hey, my student'stelling me he's depressed, but
he won't come and see you.
You know, will you reach out?
Will they do that in your?
Dr. Bianca Busch (22:55):
experience, they can do that.
There's no guarantee that theywill reach out or that they can
reach out, but absolutely andthis gets so tough this is a
really nuanced populationbecause, yes, we can receive
that information is a reallynuanced population because, yes,
we can receive that information.
You know, um, I think differentcounseling centers will handle
(23:15):
it in a different way, but thestudent, it's really on the
student to come and seek thehelp themselves.
It's just so hard.
Elizabeth Hamblet (23:23):
So there's a really good question that that
just dovetails onto that.
So a parent has asked um what'sthe best way to establish
mental health services at theuniversity, and in this
situation the student actuallywants the parent to help do it,
but what are the limits orabilities of parents there?
Dr. Bianca Busch (23:44):
Yeah, sometimes students need help
Again.
This is why, as a developmentalpsychiatrist, I welcome parent
participation at certain pointsin a developmentally appropriate
way, because sometimes thestudent just needs help reaching
out.
And so what you can do as aparent is you will have to ask
your student to sign a releaseof information and then you can
(24:06):
help them coordinate care.
So they will have to go to thestudent counseling center
themselves, either send an email, phone call or physically walk
over and say I'd like to get anappointment for an intake and
then in that intake informationthey will sign a release of
information for their parents sothat their parent can sort of
(24:26):
help them coordinate.
You know, as an RA, in thedorms we don't know students.
People are coming to us with afresh start and they may have a
very long mental health historythat we don't know anything
about, and that is their right.
That is their right.
However, it can be very helpfulto get some context.
(24:47):
So you know, sometimes it ishelpful for parents to give a
little bit of information.
So that's what you do.
You will have to assist yourstudents.
You know, maybe you make thatphone call together to student
counseling, maybe you help thememail.
If they're in town with you,maybe you walk with them to the
student counseling center.
They might be able to ask theirresident head or resident
(25:09):
assistant to do that with them.
So if you're not physicallywith your student, those are
some resources that you can callon to get help.
And then they'll need to sign arelease of information so that
you can then help coordinate.
Hey, my child had a depressiveepisode when they were 16.
They had to be hospitalized.
Here are some medicines thatthey took.
They stopped taking them.
You know, there's probably alot of information that you
(25:32):
might be able to provide thatthe counselor or the
psychiatrist that they see atstudent counseling.
Elizabeth Hamblet (25:35):
In your experience, are counseling
centers very busy at thebeginning of the semester or is
it like is that a really goodtime for a student to just have
an initial you know meeting andjust say I don't know if I'm
going to need?
Can they go and say I don'tknow if I'm even going to need
anything, but I just wanted tocome?
Dr. Bianca Busch (25:55):
That's great.
I think that's a great timebecause the busiest times are
going to be like midterms andfinals right, you know that's
when it's everybody is having ahard time.
Um, and even you know, be on.
Uh, college students justchildren and adolescents are E.
Eds are the busiest.
Once the school year gets going, summer is a ghost town, but in
the fall is when things getreally busy, and so I think
(26:15):
that's a fantastic idea Duringorientation week, stop by.
They undoubtedly have freestuff that you can take home.
They got some freebies you cantake with you and just you know.
So you know where it is, youknow how to get there.
That's a fantastic idea, butit's never too late to reach out
for help.
So you know, middle of thesemester, end of the semester,
(26:39):
definitely do it then, but it isnice to sort of go and just at
least know where the place is inthe beginning.
Another thing that I willmention is that there can
sometimes be group therapyavailable, depending on the
counselor, and so you knowsometimes that group therapy is
arranged around playing videogames.
Do you know what I mean?
It's not even around a veryspecific diagnosis.
So that's a great way to pluginto your student counseling
center as well, so that you'recreating community and you just
(27:01):
sort of have a built-in supportsystem or group of people.
Vicki Nelson (27:08):
And how might a student go about thinking about
with whether individuallyworking with someone or group
might what might be best?
Dr. Bianca Busch (27:19):
yeah, that's a good question.
Um, you know, on that initialintake, your counselor that
you're working with may makesome recommendations for you.
For some people it depends onthe person's sort of makeup.
If you're socially anxious, anindividual is going to be better
.
If you're perhaps a little bitmore outgoing and worried about
the one-on-one that feels toointense, then a group may be
(27:41):
better.
So it just depends.
Or if you feel like, oh, Idon't know how to really talk
about my issues, a group mightbe better because that's going
to come out amongst the groupand you're going to say, hey,
that actually applies to me, orI felt that way too, or that
thing happened to me too.
So I think it depends oncomfort level.
(28:03):
I would say, if you're not sure,you feel like you need some
help, but you're not sure whatyou would talk about on an
individual level, groups can begood.
But if you're very anxious andyou don't want to reveal a lot
about yourself amongst a group,then an individual might be
better.
And then there areconsiderations for your specific
diagnoses as well.
But when you do your intakesession, you complete your
intake session with studentcounseling.
(28:23):
They'll be able to help guideyou and direct you, and it may
be helpful to have both, so Iwould say that too.
It may not be either, or.
But it may be helpful to haveboth, so I would say that too.
Elizabeth Hamblet (28:32):
It may not be either, or but it may be
helpful to have both.
So what are?
You know?
We've been talking about thecampus mental health center and
I mean we're assuming everycollege has one.
You know parents, as soon asthey're done watching this, can
get on the website for theschool their student's going to
be attending in the fall anddouble check and if they can't
find one, they can, you know,try the directory.
(28:53):
You know, call the main number.
But what are some otherresources that students and
their parents might not bethinking about that can support
mental health and nurture itthat aren't as obvious as the
counseling center?
Dr. Bianca Busch (29:09):
Well, that's a great question.
So at first I thought you werethinking about more mental
health specific resources, whichI have some recommendations for
those that are not on campus.
Yeah, well, we can do those tooI think are important and
sometimes I feel like don't getenough attention.
It's extracurricular activities.
It could be the set of patientsthat I see that are sort of
(29:31):
more on the anxious side tend tohave been historically
academically successful.
They're going in there andthinking got to get good grades,
got to get good grades, got toget good grades, so I can do
this internship, so then I cango to this graduate school.
Right, they are totallyacademically focused and the
thing that I find is, if you arethat student who's been
previously academicallysuccessful, all you're focusing
(29:54):
on is academics.
You get to college you get yourfirst C or D, you don't know
what to do with yourself.
And so the thing that I like tosay to my students is something
that can buoy you is, if youhave something going on outside
of class, you have somethingthat's taking your attention and
time that you enjoy, that youfind pleasurable.
(30:15):
So if you have that happen tohave that low grade, okay, we're
going to work on that, butyou've got something else that
is making you feel fulfilled,satisfied and accomplished.
So that is something that Ireally, you know for a lot of
high school students, theirparents do all the programming.
Ok, you're going to go to this,this sport, this, I'm picking
(30:35):
you up, right?
So college students aren'taccustomed to making that
programming schedule forthemselves.
So I think this is like one ofthe biggest things that I see in
that transition that falls bythe wayside is figuring out how
to involve yourself inextracurricular activities.
Falls by the wayside isfiguring out how to involve
yourself in extracurricularactivities, I don't know, do you
(30:56):
what?
Vicki Nelson (30:56):
do you guys see and again, it could be the
sample.
I really I'm really glad tohear you say that, because I do
hear a lot from students when Isay, what are you going to do
beyond the classroom?
And they say, well, no, I'm notgoing to join anything this
first semester because I justwant to focus on my studies.
So the student that you'retalking about that's just
(31:18):
totally focused on that.
It absolutely is a lot ofstudents.
And the other thing that I hearfrom some students is a lot you
talk about parent programming,but also they're doing
extracurricular activities inhigh school so often because
(31:39):
they know that's going to lookgood on their college
application and so they see itas serving that purpose.
And then they get to collegeand they say, well, oh good, I
don't have to doextracurriculars anymore.
So, thinking in a new way aboutit, as this is going to provide
me with a group of people,particularly some kinds of
(32:02):
activities that don't requireyou to audition or try out or
make the grade, but justsomething that you can walk in
the door and be part of yeah, Iwould really encourage that.
I agree.
Dr. Bianca Busch (32:17):
And you're right.
So some of my students that Iwork with in therapy we're
figuring out well, what doesgive you joy and pleasure?
Wow, yes, yeah, because theyhaven't really been afforded the
opportunity to.
Because, again, they're doingthese things because it will
look good on a collegeapplication.
But what do they actually like?
(32:37):
What do they actually enjoy?
And so we're working togetherto say, okay, what's available
on campus, let's try it out.
Maybe you'll like it, maybe youwon't, that's okay.
Elizabeth Hamblet (32:48):
Yeah, and our friend Harlan Cohen, who we
interviewed very recently, youknow, talks about finding the
places where you're going tosweat, finding your people,
finding you know and especiallyactivities, as Vicky said, where
you don't need to audition, youdon't have to pass it, you know
some kind of test to get in, soto speak.
You just get to participate.
Now I think it's reallyimportant to make sure that they
(33:12):
are thinking beyond the gradesand, again, for you to
communicate that right, as youwere talking earlier about their
parents communicating theirbelief that students can do it.
Also, the importance of havingyou know that full life that's
why they're at college right toimpart is to develop that.
So we did have a really goodquestion, you know, here we are
(33:33):
talking about parents trying toestablish an appropriate amount
of communication from them totheir student.
We had a question about what?
How do you help parents whenit's their student constantly
reaching out to them fromcollege?
Maybe they're anxious, whatever, whatever the reason is,
they're calling multiple times aday.
(33:55):
In this situation, you know,how can a parent help?
Dr. Bianca Busch (33:59):
That's good.
That's a really good question,yeah, so it's going to be
similar.
Again, the whole goal is tocommunicate that they can do it,
and so you might say okay, Iknow that you're really
concerned and you're reallynervous, right?
So, again, the space approach.
We want to acknowledge what'shappening for them and then we
want to say we know that this ishappening, we know that you're
(34:19):
worried or anxious, but we knowthat you can do it.
And so what I would encouragethem is say okay, if you're
calling me four times a day,let's take it down to three,
then let's take it down to two.
I'm not going to pick up thephone for you, but know that I
am here and we'll talk at theend of the day, right?
So you're going to have tocreate some sort of plan where
(34:42):
there is regular communication.
Your young person knows thatyou're there, but you are sort
of weaning them down and sayingokay, you normally call me, like
I said, three times a day.
Let's take it down to two.
Call me in the morning, call meat night and whatever it is
that you would want to talk tome about in the middle of the
day.
Take a note, write it down andwe can talk about it at the end
(35:03):
of the day.
But you're going to have tohold up your end of the bargain
as a parent and not pick up thephone end of the bargain as a
parent and not pick up the phone.
Elizabeth Hamblet (35:13):
And so how do parents cope for themselves on
their own while they're watchingthe phone calls and texts come
in.
Any recommendation?
Do they take a yoga class?
Do they binge a?
Dr. Bianca Busch (35:20):
TV show.
Yes, so this is the parenttransition, right?
I mean, depending on what yourparent is doing.
If you're a stay-at-home parent, for some of my parents who
this has been the case, this iswhat they would do.
This was such a big part oftheir identity is taking care of
their children, right?
So you've got to build in someactivities.
I've heard a great advice,actually, from a neighbor.
She's got four young adults andshe was a stay-at-home mom and
(35:44):
she said what she did was, twoyears before her final child was
going to college, she startedto pick up more activities for
herself, and so she was alreadystarting that transition.
And so, yes, this guy, pick upa yoga class, a new hobby, new
volunteering, or if you are aworking parent but your
(36:07):
afterschool hours are reallyoccupied with taking folks to
practice and doing that, thatyou pick up something for
yourself.
You undoubtedly had a hobby ora passion that you put to the
side for the last 20 years whileyou were raising this young
person and so encouraging themto go back to that and having
someone that you can rely onwhen you're feeling anxious like
(36:28):
, oh my gosh, I've got torespond to this text because my
young person might be reallyspiraling out, someone that you
can rely on, whether it's yourpartner or a friend, so they can
help you through those toughtimes for yourself, when you're
not responding to these messages.
Vicki Nelson (36:44):
It's really taking your own advice and we're
talking about encouragingstudents to find
extracurriculars and dosomething that they love, and
parents need to do the samething.
You know, the students focusedon academics, the parent is
focused on parenting and we allneed to broaden just a little
(37:05):
bit.
Dr. Bianca Busch (37:06):
It's a transition for everyone.
It's a transition for everyone.
Elizabeth Hamblet (37:09):
It's a transition for everyone.
It's a transition for everyone.
Any way for parents to and Irealize this is a really tough
question to differentiatebetween sort of typical expected
stress and anxiety in theirstudent and when they might
really need to get on that phoneand say, look, I'm really
worried about you, you need togo to counseling.
Are there any like kind ofobvious red flags for parents?
Dr. Bianca Busch (37:34):
Yeah, I think any big changes in the calling
patterns that you guys haven'ttalked about and established.
So if your young person isstarting to call you a lot more
frequently, then you mightwonder what's going on.
And then the calls have justdropped off completely.
And again you guys haven'ttalked about decreasing your
communication, have just droppedoff completely.
And again, you guys haven'ttalked about decreasing your
communication.
Those may be some red flags.
(37:54):
If you're FaceTiming, you knowsometimes parents can notice
that their student has lost alot of weight or gained a lot of
weight though this is a littlebit nuanced, but you know those
can be signs.
If you notice your young personis sleeping a lot, and this is
hard right.
This is why you would beanxious as a parent, because
(38:14):
you're not there with them soyou're not going to be able to
eat all of these things.
But if you can observe amountsthat they're not eating as
regularly I said that was sortof the weight loss sleeping more
, sleeping less you may not beable to tell from afar if
they're using more substances ornot, but if you do happen to
(38:37):
notice that sometimes students'friends will reach out to their
parents with concerns.
I've had that happen before, sothat's a time where you might
want to intervene.
I'm trying to think of anyothers.
Those are kind of the big onesand obviously, if someone is
talking about ending their ownlife, that is, you know,
(38:59):
obviously a time where we needto reach out right away.
Elizabeth Hamblet (39:03):
So, speaking of age, go ahead, becky.
Vicki Nelson (39:06):
Well, before we shift.
You know we talked earlierabout FERPA and if the student
has not signed a FERPA releaseor HIPAA, sometimes I remind
parents that that means that thecollege can't share any
information with you, but itdoesn't mean that someone from
(39:27):
the college can't listen to you.
So if you have concerns to calla dean, to call someone and say
I know you can't tell meanything, but here are my
concerns.
Would you check on my student?
And they can do that.
Elizabeth Hamblet (39:43):
They have teams.
I think it's some schools thatthat respond in that way, and so
the only thing I was going tosay cause it.
You mentioned sometimesstudents friends call.
So I was going to say, becauseyou mentioned sometimes
students' friends call, so I'mso old that there was a phone in
the room and if my parents wereconcerned they could have at
least called my roommate.
Everybody's got their ownphones now.
So I mean, when students go offto college they may not know
(40:07):
anybody.
Is it awkward, is itappropriate for parents to ask
for their kids' roommates' phonenumber?
I mean, like I'm just sort ofthinking to myself like how do
you do this?
Dr. Bianca Busch (40:19):
now I wouldn't recommend that.
I mean, when I was talkingabout the kids' friends reaching
out, it's often that they willget the phone number for their
friend's parent and they will.
The friend will contact theparent.
Oh wow, okay, yeah, it's oftenthat the friend will contact the
parent more.
So the reverse, yeah, Iprobably wouldn't recommend that
(40:40):
the parent would get thecontact information, the student
necessarily yeah, I'm not sure.
Vicki Nelson (40:45):
I think I I sometimes would recommend that,
but early on, like move-in dayas just part of that, I'm not
going to use this.
I don't intend to use this, butif there's an emergency and I
need to reach you and for somereason you're not answering your
phone, I need to be able toreach out to someone.
(41:08):
So that it's making it clear.
I'm not asking for this becauseI'm going to call your roommate
and check up on you all thetime, but it's just emergency
contact.
Might be a way that you have itand you tuck it away and you
hope you're never going to useit, but it's a way you could
(41:35):
going to use it, but it's a wayyou could, yeah.
Elizabeth Hamblet (41:36):
So what is the range of experiences you've
seen your patients havetransitioning to college?
You know, are there any lessonsin there for families?
I assume some of them go offand everything's pretty cool,
right, Like we need that.
That happens too right.
Dr. Bianca Busch (41:51):
It absolutely does.
And again, I have the I have askewed sample right I'm only
seeing folks who are having ahard time.
So, but yeah, many go off andeverything is just fine.
Many go off and have a hardtime and recover.
You know, I'm sure you'm surestudents have these experiences
(42:13):
that they're like oh my gosh, ifmy mom or my dad knew what
really happened, they would behorrified and they'll tell them
in their forties, if they evertell them at all.
So people are going out andthey're being successful and
they're doing just fine.
I think a message that I wouldlike to communicate to parents
is that if your student goes outand has a hard time, it's not
(42:34):
the end of the world.
If they go out and they have ahard time, they need to stop for
a little bit, they need to takea semester off, they need to
drop a class.
It's not the end of the world.
There are so many paths tosuccess.
I think that's the thing that Ilike to communicate to parents,
because sometimes we can, andeven our students can, think
(42:58):
that there's only one way to besuccessful.
There's only one way to be apre-med student, there's only
one way to be a pre-law student.
There's only one way and thereare so many paths, and so I
think that is the thing I try tohit home is, like you know,
every student is on their ownjourney, their own path.
What's important is that theykeep progressing forward, that
(43:20):
they're remaining healthy.
If they need to take some timeaway to be healthy, that's
really important and it ispossible for them to get back on
track.
So, yeah, that's probably oneof the biggest takeaways I would
say.
Vicki Nelson (43:37):
So if I could follow up a little bit about you
know the different paths andthe different tracks.
There are a couple of thingsthat I'm thinking about, and
it's some students who havenever been in treatment in high
school and this would be atotally new experience for them.
There are some who have allalong and they need to decide
(43:59):
whether they're going tocontinue with someone they've
been seeing before or start tosee someone new.
And then I'm loading.
See, I managed to load onequestion with about four things
here, but they're all related.
The other is, as a medicaldoctor, you sometimes prescribe
(44:20):
medication, so I'm thinkingabout students who may have
never had medication before,students who have had medication
and have stopped taking it,students who are starting.
How does all of that work interms of students starting or
stopping medication treatment?
Yeah, All of the above.
Dr. Bianca Busch (44:41):
Yeah, okay, so a couple of important things to
think about here.
We, as medical doctors, arelicensed at the state level, and
so when a student goes tocollege, if they're going to
college out of state, unlesstheir doctor has a license in
that state, they will not beable to continue to care for
(45:02):
them.
Now, if their regimen is stableand nothing is changing, it is
likely that the doctor canprescribe to a local pharmacy
and the patient can pick up themedicine, With the exception of
controlled substances for whichyou have to have a state license
, and those are things likestimulants for ADHD.
(45:22):
Those are the most commonthings that college students are
going to be taking.
So this is one of the reasonswhy I founded the College
Psychiatrist, because thisbecomes a real challenge for
families.
If you've got someone takingcare of you at home, you go out
of state like sorry, I can'tprescribe there.
Often you can get some helpfrom College Mental Health.
They will have someone who canprescribe medicines, but they
are not always willing toprescribe stimulants.
(45:43):
They will have someone who canprescribe medicines, but they
are not always willing toprescribe stimulants, and so
this can be pretty tricky.
So what you want to do is checkahead of time to see if your
counseling center or the studenthealth center is willing to
prescribe your stimulants and,if not, that you're identifying
a local psychiatrist or mentalhealth provider or family
medicine doctor someone with anMD, nurse practitioners can also
(46:04):
prescribe who can do that foryou on your local campus.
So that's something to that'sone of the biggest things to
keep in mind.
Now, in terms of starting andstopping medications, I think it
depends on the condition.
I am the kind of prescriberthat I never say that someone is
committed to lifelongmedications with the exception
(46:24):
of a few diagnoses, and that'sprobably schizophrenia and maybe
even bipolar disorder,depending on your illness.
Other than that things likeanxiety and depression it is
possible for you to startmedications, get better, get
some great skills and stop themedication.
So this is a long answer.
It's a long question.
(46:45):
It's a long question.
And so you know.
It is possible that they havebeen on a medication in high
school, but they will notcontinue in college.
It is possible that they neverhad medication in high school
and they really do now need itin college, and so you know.
For these reasons, I thinkagain the parents working with
(47:07):
the students say okay, you saw atherapist in high school and
that was enough for your anxietyor depression.
If things get worse, let's makesure you get back into therapy
or counseling, and then theremight be a need for medication.
And again, the student healthcenters are good about having
all of those resources availableand saying okay, now is the
(47:28):
time for you, we've done allthat we can do with therapy, or
therapy is maybe just not enoughright now and we should
consider medication.
So it's kind of a case by casething, but, just as you stated,
either can be true that you havenot started medication in high
school and you do find that youneed it, and vice versa.
(47:48):
Another thing that I find to betrue, outside of depression and
anxiety, is that someone mayhave been diagnosed with ADHD as
a young child and, depending onthe parent preference, they may
have said no, we're not goingto do medication.
Let's just get you executivefunction coaching, let's just
really make sure we have thesesystems in place and let's
forego medicine.
Well, oftentimes what willhappen when students get to high
(48:11):
school or even to professionalschool, is that the academic
load is such that all of thesystems that they put in place
are overwhelmed by the volume ofthe information, by the
complexities of the information,that they're required and they
may actually need medication.
So I have a fair number ofstudents that they may start
stimulants for the first timewith me once they're in college
or in professional school, eventhough they have a longstanding
(48:33):
diagnosis of ADHD.
And sometimes they don't evenhave the diagnosis of ADHD yet
and they're just getting it as ayoung adult or an adult.
So that's a long answer.
I hope I answered your question.
Vicki Nelson (48:46):
Yeah, I mean they need to be flexible and not say
I've never needed this before,I'm not going to need it now, or
I've always needed this.
Things change a lot in college.
It's very different.
Dr. Bianca Busch (49:03):
One other thing that I would add.
That's interesting because nowthe student is 18.
So you don't actually need yourparents' consent to start the
medication.
However, your parent is still apart of your life, and so
sometimes that can influence astudent's decision to start or
stop medication.
If their parent is like, no,you don't need medication, but
they kind of want to try it, itcan maybe prevent them from
getting the help that they need.
(49:23):
So, again, as we're inspiringindependence, I would say,
because everyone has differentattitudes about medications,
understandably so.
None of the medications that weprescribe are without side
effects, so I can understand thecaution, but the thing that I
encourage families to do is makesure you're educated about what
(49:46):
the medicines are and thenreally encouraging your young
person to make a good decisionfor themselves.
So that's another complexitythat we talk about as
psychiatrists.
Like we really want to startthis, but the parent isn't on
board, even though they don'thave to be on board, and so
that's preventing the treatmentfrom going forward.
Elizabeth Hamblet (50:07):
I was thinking as you were talking
about, you know, students andI've seen this working at the
college level going off theirmeds because they've decided
they don't need it.
And, just, you know, thinkingabout what I would then
generalize is resistance totreatment, let's just say so.
One of your videos you talkedabout how anxiety affects not
just you know, female, cisgenderfemale students, but cisgender
(50:29):
male students.
And so do you have any advicefor parents, especially because
for some you know individualgroups of kinds of students,
there's a resistance to saying Ineed help.
You know, maybe it affectstheir self-esteem to think that,
or it is, you know, a culturalthing for them to.
You know, their family isdiscouraged seeking that kind of
(50:52):
help.
Any kind of suggestions?
That's a good question.
Dr. Bianca Busch (50:58):
Yeah, you know , when I have this families
before me in my clinic space, Inormally am exploring why they
might be resistant, and so manydifferent things come up.
A family member had a badexperience with the treatment
system or medication.
So you know, some of that workpeople can certainly do on their
(51:20):
own.
But to ask themselves, why isit that you don't think that
this could be helpful?
Is it because of a previousexperience?
Is that experience likely to bethe case here at this
institution or with thisprovider or this treater?
And then to also ask about thecost and the benefit, the thing
(51:42):
that I highlight to people isthat, um, the suffering that
they have, they don't have tohave, um, and that's.
You know, if there's aresistance to medication, I find
much more buy-in withbehavioral approaches or even
natural supplements, and sothat's more thinking about how
to get buy-in as a provider.
(52:03):
But I just highlight like, hey,this doesn't have to be the
case, and I even will use otherpatients that I've had as
examples and say you know, whenthey did this treatment or when
they started this medication,they were surprised to realize
how much anxiety they wereactually experiencing, and they
didn't even know because theyjust had been living with it for
(52:23):
so long they didn't even reallyknow that they could live a
different way, and so sometimesI'll use that as an example.
So yeah, that's.
I think trying to find positiveexamples of people who have
gotten treatment can be helpful,and I do try to really be
respectful of culture, um,experiences, um, when I am
(52:49):
trying to bring someone on boardfor treatment.
Elizabeth Hamblet (52:53):
And I want to add, for those who are
listening um, one of theconcerns you know, working in
disability services at thecollege level that I hear about
why students don't want to comeand get their accommodations, is
they are concerned that thatwill somehow be noted on their
transcript from college thatthey used accommodations, yeah I
mean, and whether they'relooking for a job afterward or
(53:14):
graduate school.
So let's be really clear thatcollege transcripts do not say
anything about any supports thatstudents have accessed.
Do not say anything about anysupports that students have
accessed and our office and thecampus counseling office are not
going to be sending.
If a student's applying to gradschool and wants their
transcripts sent, the college isnot going to send a record from
(53:36):
our office or from counselingor for any other resources.
Yeah right, but I understandwhy people A they just don't
know and are worried about that,but that this treatment is
completely confidential.
Professors don't know about it.
Nobody needs to know that thesestudents are seeking help.
(53:57):
It's private.
Dr. Bianca Busch (53:59):
That's a good point yeah.
Vicki Nelson (54:02):
That's a good point, yeah.
So I think we could go on andon, because this is really
important and a big topic, butunfortunately we probably do
need to begin to wind up.
So I'm wondering you producevideos and all on so many topics
(54:23):
.
You produce videos and all onso many topics.
What have we not asked youabout that you wish you had had
an opportunity to talk about?
Is there anything, wrapping up,that you'd like to make clear,
make a statement about?
Dr. Bianca Busch (54:50):
The only other thing that I didn't get to
mention before.
It's just about substance use,and this is, I guess, maybe my
own personal soapbox.
Is that I really want?
families to be honest withthemselves and your young person
about the family history ofaddiction.
It's a very hard topic, but Ithink your young person needs to
know, before they're going intocollege and they're exposed to
so many different things,whether or not they have a
genetic tendency towardsaddiction.
Because I see young people whojust don't know and they're
(55:13):
wondering why it is so hard forthem to stop vaping, smoking
marijuana, drinking alcohol.
And you know, they're justgenetically predisposed drinking
alcohol and they're justgenetically predisposed.
So that is something that Ithink I always will want to say
is that if you're having a hardtime thinking about it or not
(55:37):
sure how to approach it withyour young person gosh, my mom
is just blunt, right.
So many people have familyhistory of addiction, certainly
on both sides of my family, andso my mom was just like, hey,
you have to be careful becausethis is on both sides Right, and
so you come into yourexperience with a different
mentality than like, oh, thisisn't going to affect me, I can
(55:57):
just have however many drinksand set it down Right.
So that is one thing I want tohit home.
Please talk to your youngpeople about this.
If you're having a hard time,you can always go to
organizations like NAMI for moreinformation, or even AA or
Al-Anon.
These are all sort ofaddiction-focused or mental
(56:22):
health-focused resources tofigure out how to talk about it.
You can really, I think, saveyour young person from a tough
path if you can be honest withthem, even if you yourself have
a history of addiction that theydon't know about.
It can be a good time for youto talk about that.
Elizabeth Hamblet (56:42):
Vicki, as a fan of Dr Bush's, I know she's
also talked about sleep, whichwe haven't touched on.
Dr. Bianca Busch (56:48):
Oh, good guess .
Sleep is really important.
Tough for college studentsbecause their schedules are so,
so varied.
But sleep, oh my goodness, it'sso important for mood, it's so
important for anxiety, forconcentration, for the
consolidation of memories.
All that studying that you'redoing, you brain has to have
time to put it all together.
(57:09):
So, of course, all-nighters arenot the best way to get things
done, even though it seems likea good idea.
So, trying to plan if you canand get the best sleep that you
can You're not going to geteight hours every night, that's
unreasonable.
But as many nights as you can,getting, you know, seven, seven
to nine hours of sleep.
And then, when you get home forbreaks, parents let them sleep
(57:31):
for a little bit.
They're okay, I promise they'remost likely okay.
Vicki Nelson (57:35):
They need to sleep for a little bit, so yeah, I'm
for parents and students to hearthat about sleep from any
direction that it can come.
When I mentioned to my studentsyou know, are you getting sleep
I?
They usually laugh at me.
So you know they don'tunderstand what happens when
(57:58):
you're sleeping.
So, but yes, we need to wrap up.
Um do, would you?
Can you just share with us?
If parents would like to findout more about you, contact you.
What should they know?
Dr. Bianca Busch (58:15):
absolutely, absolutely so.
You can find us atwwwcollegepsychiatristcom that's
website.
We're on all social channelsFacebook, tiktok, instagram.
At college psychiatrist.
You can also follow me, drBianca Bush or the college
psychiatrist on LinkedIn.
We'll have information there,but through any of those
channels you'll hear aboutwhat's upcoming, the things that
(58:37):
we have to offer and justgeneral information, and we
always love to hear back frompeople.
So if there's something youwant to know about, like comment
, um, you know, in any of theposts or things like, hey, what
about this, and we'll make avideo about it, we'll address it
and let's see what else to say.
We have our coping kit wasavailable on Etsy that is a
(58:57):
platform I didn't mention butit's a great care package.
You can get that in, get it inrotation now, order it, send it
to your student.
It's got over 10 items thatpromote good mental health.
It's a lot of fun.
It's got some fun stickers thatthey can put on their water
bottles or laptops, and thenwe're going to have some great
(59:17):
stuff coming up about testingwith confidence.
I find that anxiety can reallyget in the way of students
showing exactly what they knowon their exams, and so we have a
book coming out about testanxiety with some tips that
students can really use.
We also have a one on one thatwe can do like therapy wise.
That is fantastic.
Incorporates CBT for anxietyand then some integrative
(59:40):
psychiatry, and then we're goingto be rolling that into a
course when I find all the timeto do these things, but the
ebook is really in motion, sojust look out for those things.
And then some group therapy inthe fall as well.
So many exciting things comingfrom us.
Vicki Nelson (59:55):
Wow, so much going on.
Well, I know we both want tothank you for the people who
were able to join us today onElizabeth's Facebook, and this
episode will be forthcomingmaybe in August.
It may not be till October.
We're going to see how thisschedule pans out, but we will
(01:00:17):
be sure to let everybody knowwhen that's going to happen, and
there's never a bad time tolearn more about student mental
health.
It's so important.
So thank you so much forjoining us.
Elizabeth Hamblet (01:00:31):
Thank you for having me.
Thanks everybody.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!