Tech Announces Plan to Hire Additional Mental Health Professionals

Georgia Tech leadership this week announced it will bring on three additional therapists – months ahead of schedule – in support of student mental health needs on campus.

Initially budgeted for the next fiscal year, the new staff have been approved for immediate recruitment. When combined with staff who will be hired to support the new referral-and-assessment center, the student-to-counselor ratio will be in line with national recommendations.

Construction on the assessment center is scheduled to begin this month. A director and two full-time counselors will staff the new center, as well as mental health professionals from Georgia Tech’s Counseling Center and Psychiatric Clinic who will serve the center on a rotating basis.

Services for student mental health is a national issue and one that Georgia Tech is working to address. In addition to increasing staffing and constructing the new center, which aims to significantly streamline the process for students seeking access to counseling and psychiatric services, the Institute has:

• Expanded the staff of the Georgia Tech Counseling Center to 19 professional counseling positions who see clients, including 11 licensed psychologists and professional counselors; four doctor interns; and four postdoctoral residents.
• Hired a new Counseling Center director.
• Launched the Let’s Talk program, which encourages informal wellness conversations with counselors at sites across campus.
• Partnered with ProtoCall, a national provider, to enhance after-hours mental health support.
• Started offering WellTrack, an interactive app that helps manage stress and regulate disorders such as anxiety and depression.

The Counseling Center has also conducted 145 Question, Persuade, and Refer (QPR) training sessions through the Tech Ends Suicide Together initiative with more than 2,500 people trained to recognize a mental health crisis.

“There is a heightened awareness of how to help and take care of one another,” President G.P. “Bud” Peterson said. “We will continue to build on that by investing in staff as well as the outreach and support programs that help give students the tools they need to thrive during their time at Tech and beyond.”