At the University of South Florida, many students have been faced with a number of issues regarding the Counseling Center. For example:

• "After my first therapy appointment, my therapist said my problems were too big for her and sent me away." 
• "Whenever I try to book a therapy appointment, the next available appointment is in over a month." 
• "I can't see my therapist routinely, she doesn't have enough availability." 
• "I booked my therapy appointment with a specific therapist and then they changed my therapist last minute after I had been waiting for a month for this appointment." 
• "It's almost impossible to get a psychiatrist appointment." 

With the rising cost of receiving an education and the high expenses of paying out-of-pocket for therapy appointments, the USF Counseling Center is sometimes the only resource that students have in terms of mental health. The core issue in the lack of accessibility to the counseling center is inadequate funds and staff. In fact, only about 0.2% of USF's budget goes toward the counseling center. Therefore, the staff is overwhelmed with too many students and are not able to give their full attention, or even support, to their students. Students are being left with very few appointments to choose from, as well as dissatisfactory experiences. 

Mental health is deeply rooted in stigma and inequality. For example, women are more likely to seek out help and support, while men aren't. Additionally, there is not enough diversity in the mental health field to help Black communities, especially in terms of cultural differences and due to biases that people may hold. This includes USF, which they do not have enough diversity within their staff. Therefore, it is important that a larger portion of USF's budget is given to the Counseling Center and additional staff is hired. This will open up a more accessible resource to the students, create a more diverse/inclusive staff, as well as hopefully leave students with more satisfactory experiences. 

Want to help make change? Sign the Petition!

For more information on USF's budget and the Counseling Center: 

https://www.usforacle.com/2021/10/28/opinion-50-million-from-the-bog-is-an-opportunity-for-usf-to-invest-in-mental-health/

https://www.usf.edu/business-finance/resource-management-analysis/documents/operating-budget-19-20.pdf