Seeing students through the pandemic

Learn about a new tool that enables ISU students living out of the state to access mental health services, how our Student Care & Assistance program and Career Center services helped connect students to emergency assistance and jobs even in the face of the 2020 Covid-19 challenges.

 

Last spring, ISU's Counseling and Testing Service (CATS) added a new tool to improve access to mental health services for Idaho State students: the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention's Interactive Screening Program. This anonymous screening program helped CATS reach students at high risk for suicide and get them connected to the treatment that can save their lives and help them persist in their studies. This past spring, over 96% of students seen at CATS reported receiving high quality mental health services, and over 70% reported that the treatment they received at CATS made it easier for them to stay at Idaho State.

 

We know that 2020 saw many jobs disappear in our community and the increased requests for emergency assistance received by our Student Care & Assistance coordinator testified to the seriousness of the crisis for many of our students. During that time period, the ISU Career Center’s services were in demand. Career Center staff had some form of interaction with over 9,000 students last year, holding over 1,200 individual student appointments during COVID (primarily on Zoom) for career counseling, resume writing, job searching, and interviewing practice sessions. Even during the pandemic, the Career Path Internship Program managed to produce over 900 paid student internships, doing its part to help keep our students employed during this critical time.