Book Review: Mental Health Care in the College Community

Abstract

Kay, J., & Schwartz, V. (20 1 0). Mento/ Health Care in the College Community. Hoboken, NJ:Wiley-Blackwell. 396 pp. $64.95 (hardcover). ISBN 978-0-47074-618-9.Mental Health Care in the College Community edited by Jerald Kay and Victor Schwartz, provides a broad and yet detailed introduction to counseling services at American colleges and universities. The editors have produced a book that focuses on the nuts and bolts of counseling, and it will be a welcome addition to the limited literature on the topic. For readers unfamiliar with mental health care at higher education institutions, the book is an effective guide to better understanding how counseling services are provided in these settings. The book may also serve as a textbook in graduate counseling and higher education courses that examine the delivery of counseling services at various colleges and universities. The book includes 17 chapters written by notable and experienced professionals in the field. These authors include practicing psychologists, psychiatrists, and attorneys.The first two chapters provide a helpful foundation for later ones. The first chapter emphasizes the importance of research by highlighting findings from a number of studies examining mental health issues on campus. Chapter 2 focuses on the history of counseling and mental health services and explains how the community mental health model has been integrated into higher education settings.Subsequent chapters examine the structural and functional components of effective college mental health services in addition to the importance of the counseling center team, which should be an integral part of the college community. Of particular interest is chapter 7 in which legal and ethical issues are discussed in detail. Other chapters highlight a number of specific topics related to college counseling, including managing crises and crisis intervention; counseling parents and families of young adults; the value of psychiatry residency training when it includes campus placements; psychology and social work training; counseling members of special populations; using a public approach when counseling some students; and providing counseling services to address student alcohol and drug misuse. The penultimate chapter, chapter 16, revisits a major theme that extends throughout the work: Improvement in the delivery of mental health and counseling services will in all likelihood be tied to research focused on the work of college counseling centers. This chapter is especially helpful in reminding readers about the necessary components of excellent research.When readers take a closer look at each chapter, they will find a thoughtful and helpful organization to the subject matter in each case. More specifically, the authors provide introductions to the primary topics of each chapter. These introductions are followed by an in-depth examination of the primary topic and included subtopics. Readers interested in further study will appreciate the robust reference list at the end of each chapter and, when appropriate, appendices that offer additional valuable information for the reader such as a triage form and helpful hints for supervisors. Attentive reading of individual chapters is facilitated through the use of informative charts and graphs that help the reader understand the most important information presented.The strengths of this text are numerous, beginning with the focus on a comprehensive examination of college counseling. The individual chapters develop discussion points that could easily be adopted for in-class or online class interaction to help develop the major themes and problems articulated by authors. …