Student Health has the massive job of providing healthcare to eighteen thousand students at Otago University. If you don’t have a GP down in Dunedin (practically all of us) you’re going to Student Health for every cough, UTI, Covid test, and sick note. For mental health matters, however, a 4-6 week wait has been the norm.
One student, Fran* phoned the reception last week at around 11am to try and book in some counselling. She had no idea what support was available, but Student Health’s website offered “same day” mental health support appointments. After being on hold throughout her morning routine – she made her entire breakfast, ate it, and left the flat to go to Uni while still listening to Brooke Fraser’s ‘Something in the Water’ – Fran hung up and resolved to try again tomorrow.
The next day, Fran was prepared. She phoned the reception for an appointment three minutes after it opened. It was a Wednesday, so the clinic opened later than usual. She thought it would be a quick phone call, because how could the line be busy 180 seconds after Student Health opened its doors? After being on hold for seven minutes, she decided to march in there herself and demand an appointment.
At reception, Fran was told that mental health appointments can only be booked through the phone. With gritted teeth, she explained to the receptionist that she had tried to book through the phone for the last two days. The receptionist looked her up and down, said, “Are you okay?” and told her to try again tomorrow. She said to call as soon as they opened (which Fran had done) as “not many students are awake” at their ordinary opening time at 8:30am (unless they have a 9am lecture). Otherwise, Fran could book a week in advance instead.
When Critic reached out for comment, Clinical Group Leader of Mental Health and Wellbeing Richard Mooney stated that appointments are available either the same day as the student contacts the services, or within one week of a request being received. He has also stated that if a student is unable to get an appointment on the day requested, this is documented on their file. Urgent requests are transferred to a Mental Health support clinician on duty who can coordinate a plan for them. However, this does not apply when students such as Fran cannot get appointments because they are on hold for extraordinary amounts of time.
Critic has since learned that there are six appointments available per day for the “same day” mental health support service. These appointments are booked out on a first come, first served basis and tend to be fully booked before many students even call. For people such as Fran, this is a massive boundary in accessing support.
When Fran finally managed to book a mental health support appointment, she was told that while this appointment was free, proper sessions of counselling came at a cost of $15 per session and Fran would have to wait 4-6 weeks. Mooney confirmed the wait, and explained that wait times fluctuate based on demand and these current wait times are typical or a little shorter than usual. He acknowledged that no model is perfect, but said, “We believe the service on offer to our students is accessible and of a high quality when benchmarked against supports available to non-students in Dunedin.”
Fran is now successfully on the waitlist because the other options recommended to her were private counselling or external counselling based out in South Dunedin. Private counselling costs $150-$200 per session with wait times between 4-12 weeks, and Fran doesn’t have transport out to South Dunedin, so neither of these options were feasible. Mooney told Critic, “The current model at Student Health Services allows for rapid access to mental health support and intervention. We do not believe there is any other service in Dunedin which routinely allows swifter access to non-emergent, in person, clinical mental health support.”
Another tauira who Critic spoke to said they were faced with a 2-4 week for a mental health appointment late last year. “I think the only reason I got my script the first appointment is because I had been referred by a therapist,” they said. They managed to get prescribed SSRIs for anxiety but said, “It must be a lot harder without a therapist referral as the wait times for those are even worse and sometimes not accessible to students.”
To get the most effective counselling, Fran was told that she should sign an ‘Authority to Release Health Records’ form so that Student Health could see all of her previous health records from her current GP in Wellington. She was also made aware she can book in for as many same day appointments as she needed while waiting for counselling, and there is scope to fast track the referral if this is clinically indicated.
Alternatives to these in-person appointments is telehealth counselling services such as University partner Puāwaitanga, for students wanting to access counselling sooner and free of charge. There are also call and text services such as Need to Talk 1737 and Youthline (0800 37 66 33) and the Emergency Psychiatric Service for mental health emergencies, accessible by calling 0800 467 846 or at Dunedin Hospital’s Emergency Department. Māori students can also seek counselling support and intervention at Te Huka Mātauraka Māori Centre.
*Names changed.