The University of Pittsburgh's counseling center has failed to replace their resident psychiatrist for students, whose last day is today. This means that the thirty hours of psychiatric care available each week has now dropped down to zero until further notice, which also means that hundreds of students have lost access to their medications until they replace the position. For some students, they may be able to find psychiatrists in the area who take their insurance, and could be placed on a waiting list to eventually receive care again. Many will not. Pitt has made a decision about how they think about mental healthcare by letting this position go empty, and has opted to let hundreds of mentally ill students slip through the cracks until it's replaced. Pitt poses itself to care about the health of their students and has the audacity to litter campus with fliers that say "Let's Talk About It." Let's talk about Pitt's lack of transparency on the gaps they are allowing in our care and their decision to turn their backs to those with mental illness.

UPDATE: Administration at the University of Pittsburgh have relayed the information that they are currently seeking to replace the position -- while this is good news, we must ask why they have waited so long to replace the position; long enough for students to experience, at the very least, a gap in important medical coverage until further notice. It should be of critical importance to always have a psychiatrist on staff, and to allow for there not to be for even a day is a large misstep and speaks volumes to the significance they place on mental healthcare. We must still put pressure on Pitt to take mental health seriously and to never allow for instances like this to occur in the future. The petition has been updated to reflect this information.