WaPo: Suicidal students are pressured to withdraw from Yale

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IMHO, Yale is right to require students take a leave of absence after a suicide attempt, but wrong to put up any barriers to return the following semester or the one after that (depending on when the attempt took place). They should expunge any grades from the lost semester.

A suicide attempt--but not necessarily suicidal thoughts--show that a student needs serious mental health attention that can't be fully addressed while also trying to attend to the classes that in many cases are at minimum exacerbating the situation.

Oh, and I love Duke's idea about creating a department to help support students while they're on leave. Brilliant, caring approach to a delicate problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools are not equip to deal with mental health challenges.

Read the article, Yale is way beyond this. They were cruel.

Not really. Schools cannot handle that kind of mental health issues and in a semester or two, its not going to get that much better nor is the right environment. Those students need to be hospitalized and intensive treatment.

NP: Read the article. Many students are relying on the healthcare and supports provided including their friends nearby. Yale certainly has enough money to figure out something in between kicking out students and having students crash & burn on campus indefinitely. There has to be some middle ground.

They offer mental health services per the article but not at that level where someone is suicidal. There is a huge difference between depression and suicidal. You read the article as the issue is severely mentally ill students. There is no middle ground. They need to be in intensive treatment. Schools cannot provide that.

[Anonymous]

They made kids sign documents in the hospital agreeing to leave. They escorted kids to their dorms to move out in a matter of hours. They restrict the ability to return after a break and make applying for reinstatement a stressor on kids.

[Anonymous]

The article. It’s Northwestern and Duke as being much much compassionate about these situations. Yale’s way is not the only way.

[Anonymous]

*The article cited *

[Anonymous]

I do think that for kids with bipolar and schizophrenia the colleges need a different playbook. These two lifetime serious illnesses pop up in college. I have a kid who poppped up with a serious mental illness in college and the depression- focused care was not helpful af all.

However the vast majority of college mental health crises come from anxiety and depression.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They made kids sign documents in the hospital agreeing to leave. They escorted kids to their dorms to move out in a matter of hours. They restrict the ability to return after a break and make applying for reinstatement a stressor on kids.

This is just awful. I’ve been in the ED with my teen when they were having urges to self-harm and needed to be admitted to inpatient. That is a real crisis moment. I could not imagine school admin/school hospital staff forcing us to sign papers kicking them out of college on the spot. Have they no decency? Isn’t the student already under a lot of stress in that moment? Cruel and disgusting. And then removing them from their supports and practitioners. Just awful.

[Anonymous]

This is so sad. when you think about how many resources Yale has and this is how it treats its students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They made kids sign documents in the hospital agreeing to leave. They escorted kids to their dorms to move out in a matter of hours. They restrict the ability to return after a break and make applying for reinstatement a stressor on kids.

This is just awful. I’ve been in the ED with my teen when they were having urges to self-harm and needed to be admitted to inpatient. That is a real crisis moment. I could not imagine school admin/school hospital staff forcing us to sign papers kicking them out of college on the spot. Have they no decency? Isn’t the student already under a lot of stress in that moment? Cruel and disgusting. And then removing them from their supports and practitioners. Just awful.

It’s Yale. Most Yale grads find a way to share that fact within a few minutes of one’s meeting them for the first time (unlike other elite school grads) and I am convinced because the school experience is so traumatizing that they wear it as a badge of survivor honor.

[Anonymous]

The examples cited in that article definitely paint Yale in a bad light. However, as the first PP stated, students experiencing crisis level mental health problems need to go take care of themselves and not stay on campus or stay enrolled. Students experiencing any crisis level health problem need to attend to their health first. It's not practical or desirable to allow students a tunnel vision focus on their academics while they're experiencing a life threatening condition. These decisions should not be made under duress, but consequences should apply when students are not able to meet the demands of their courseload. The consequences should not impede their future ability to succeed, and they should be allowed to re-enroll once their condition is manageable, but it is reasonable to make sure that they are no longer a risk to themselves upon reenrollment. We need universal healthcare that will provide for people regardless of their enrollment in a university, not to make universities responsible for people who cannot be students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They made kids sign documents in the hospital agreeing to leave. They escorted kids to their dorms to move out in a matter of hours. They restrict the ability to return after a break and make applying for reinstatement a stressor on kids.

This is just awful. I’ve been in the ED with my teen when they were having urges to self-harm and needed to be admitted to inpatient. That is a real crisis moment. I could not imagine school admin/school hospital staff forcing us to sign papers kicking them out of college on the spot. Have they no decency? Isn’t the student already under a lot of stress in that moment? Cruel and disgusting. And then removing them from their supports and practitioners. Just awful.

It’s Yale. Most Yale grads find a way to share that fact within a few minutes of one’s meeting them for the first time (unlike other elite school grads) and I am convinced because the school experience is so traumatizing that they wear it as a badge of survivor honor.

Isn't this a Harvard thing...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I genuinely do not know why any parent would let their kid go to that school. It has been exceptionally toxic for years.

The kind of kid who gets into Yale has the kind of parent who churns out suicidal kids.

I don't get it. Having loving, supportive parents who push you academically churns out a suicidal kid? You're making crap up. The kids I know at Ivies have wonderfully involved, supportive, and nurturing parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I genuinely do not know why any parent would let their kid go to that school. It has been exceptionally toxic for years.

The kind of kid who gets into Yale has the kind of parent who churns out suicidal kids.

I don't get it. Having loving, supportive parents who push you academically churns out a suicidal kid? You're making crap up. The kids I know at Ivies have wonderfully involved, supportive, and nurturing parents.

Don’t even try to rationalize this insensitive inferiority complex riddled PP’s response.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I genuinely do not know why any parent would let their kid go to that school. It has been exceptionally toxic for years.

The kind of kid who gets into Yale has the kind of parent who churns out suicidal kids.

Why in the world would you say a thing like that? How dare you. Your statement is appalling.

[Anonymous]

Here’s the thing: mental health and the difficulty surrounding medical leave decisions are challenging issues at every school but we expect better at *Yale*. Yale has resources and did not need to be this cruel. They seem to want to get the problems off campus and off their watch so as not to tarnish their reputation. We should expect better at all schools. Every student has a bright future and their life is precious.