Before the arrival of the 2024 fall term, at Central Oregon Community College, a few health services that were offered to students were placed on a temporary hiatus.
One of the health services was personal counseling services, in partnership with St. Charles Health Systems’ Behavioral Health Services; the other provided service was the Deschutes Mobile Health Clinic, which offered students affordable or free reproductive and sexual health services, during the 2024 Spring term on Tuesdays at COCC.
In an interview with Tyler Hayes, Dean Enrollment Management/Registrar, The Broadside found out why the personal counseling services were halted and what the future looks like for COCC students who need mental health support.
“At the end of August, the contract was up with St. Charles as our provider for personal counseling,” said Hayes “We’ve really enjoyed working with them. Like with anything, right? Every organization needs to evaluate their needs, and determine what next steps are for them. When contracts expire. In this case, it just happened that it did not work out for COCC and St. Charles to continue with our partnership around personal counseling.”
Hayes also noted that COCC’s other partnerships with the St. Charles Health Care organization would not be affected, only the personal counseling services. “We have a lot of other great partnerships with St. Charles through some of our educational programs and things here on campus, and those will continue.”
Announced recently in an email to COCC staff on Oct. 17 by Hayes, a new organization will be partnering with COCC and offering personal counseling starting the first week of November. Collaborative Healing and Integrative Therapy, LLC. A new provider for personal counseling for Students.
With this new personal counseling partnership, with the new organization, “Students will still have the opportunity to access free personal counseling. There will be counseling available both in person and remote. So not a whole lot is changing other than I think we are providing more access to more students, there will be some other probably smaller changes to try to improve our services and better meet the needs for our students,” said Hayes.
Hayes mentioned that the partnership with Collaborative Healing and Integrative Therapy, contract had just been signed; that one of the Collaborative Healing and Integrative Therapy counselors had worked on the COCC campus before and is very familiar with personal counseling at the college.
Andrew Davis, dean of student engagement, said Deschutes County Mobile Health Clinic informed the college that it was reorganizing in mid September.
“We got notified that they did a reorg., and so they weren’t going to be able to come and do the exact same services they were doing. So mostly that means students then have to travel to Deschutes County Health Department to get those same services, so they sort of lose the convenience of being able to get them, get those services on campus,” Davis said.
With the Mobile Health Clinic on a temporary pause, its impact on student life at COCC, “it was a partnership that we were excited about, but it was pretty short lived. And so I think that we haven’t seen a super huge impact from it.,”
if there was going to be a replacement for the provided services “Not right now we still are going to have them come in that limited capacity with a slightly different focus, so they’ll still be here once a month and we’re going to see how that goes and then take it from there, but we’ll continue to refer students out to local, local organizations for services that they need.”, said Davis
A nurse at Deschutes Public Health, Charlotte Jones, confirmed and stated that the services provided by the Deschutes Mobile Health Clinic were in fact on a hiatus during that time, while the health services provided went under a reorganization. Jones also provided us with information that the Mobile Health Clinic would be back at the college, but with slightly different services.
The services that would be offered would focus on testing for HIV, Hepatitis C and other sexually transmitted infections. The testing results are quick and take approximately about 20 minutes and remain free and affordable to students according to Jones. The times that the Mobile Health Clinic would be on campus are still being worked out, but the clinic would be on site every third Thursday of every month.
One student, Taylor Taliesin, on the Bend campus, was familiar with the Personal Counseling program and offered their insight and opinion. “I’m a student. That’s part of the addiction studies program and the contract that COCC had with St. Charles Health, which was the counseling it ended right now, the recommendation is that people go to the OSU(-Cascades) drop-in clinic for free counseling services. There is a mental health club starting up on campus for people who are neurodivergent and or suffering from mental illness.”;
Taliesin, who is also one of the student organizers of the new mental health club at COCC, called the Umbrella Club, “It’s kind of like an alternative support group since we don’t have counseling services at COCC anymore.” said Taliesin. Taliesin mentioned that the new club should be starting the week of Oct. 20.
At Wickiup Hall, Lidya Harms, a front desk attendant and student, Harms said, “The mental health clinics would have been useful in the summer term. I came here in the summer term, and it would have been a really nice resource if I had that option, but unfortunately since it stopped continuing its services, I wasn’t able to look into that and get the help that I needed.”
Harms was excited about returning the mental health services coming back. “Yeah, I would be really excited about that, especially as a student and a worker; just so much in my life that I could use all of those resources that they have and available for me. So would be a really nice resource and outlet.” Harms said
Some other students on Bend’s campus who had not been personally affected by the interrupted services, conveyed empathy that other students may have been affected by this on campus; it is important to have at COCC.
Another student at COCC’s Wickiup, Anna Robinson said, “It didn’t affect me personally, but I know a lot of people who are looking to have personal counseling and stuff like that, and who wanted to use those resources and didn’t have access to it. So, I just think it’s something that should be brought back and put as a priority.”
A sophomore at COCC, Madison McCormick, “While I was not personally affected and I didn’t use the service, I can only imagine how many other students were personally affected because some people might not have the proper transportation, or even financials to be able to go to the doctor and do anything they might need to keep their health secure. So I think it’s kind of a bummer that it went on the hiatus and that there’s not that much alternative offered to students.”
