By: Maverick Marcellana and Cynthia Mazariegos
Mental health professionals and law enforcement at Long Beach State have combined efforts to create a team dedicated to helping campus mental health needs.
Launched in June 2022, the Campus Assessment and Stabilization Team was created to assist community members on and off campus with mental health episodes they may feel in the spur of the moment. Another goal the program has is to reduce stigma, trauma and the use of force.
CAST provided services to 154 people between June 2022 and June 2023. In the same time frame, CAST ended up providing 358 services to campus members. The program’s purpose is not long term therapy or assistance.
The team will receive an award in November for their innovation in further enhancing students’ life on campus.
The program is the first of its kind in the Cal State University system. Several CSU’s have started to implement their own version of the program.
“When someone copies what you’re doing, that’s the highest compliment,” UPD Chief John Brockie said.
The University had no counselors that could aid police when it came to calls that required psychological assistance. CAST works to meet the community’s mental health needs and network them into other programs that deal with mental health crises.
“They can respond to crisis and urgent needs of the CSULB campus in the surrounding community with a humanistic and trauma informed approach,” Brockie said.
Brockie said one indication CAST is working is that while individuals wait to be referred to resources, they return for help on their current mental state.
Students are provided with conventional check-ins to see if students are feeling stressed, anxious, depressed or other kinds of emotions.
Brockie said that the CAST program not only works on helping students who live on-campus but those off-campus as well. About 9% of students at CSULB live on-campus, while about 91% live off-campus.
Approximately 86% of CSULB students experience moderate or high amounts of stress, 22% of whom show anxiety and 18% depression according to data from the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment in 2021.
Brockie added that partnering with Student Health Services helps in reducing the stigma for students who think they’re in trouble when a counselor, instead of a cop, comes on the scene to check up on them. Brockie said less use of force has better results for a person’s mental health.
The program has two CSULB alumni working as social workers, Donna De Loera and Graciela Lopez. Both are the main contacts in crisis response when students, faculty and staff are in need of services.
Initial contact with people in crises are from calls that dispatchers receive. Brockie said the department dispatchers are trained to triage calls. Based on an individual’s behavior, dispatchers are able to decide if CAST gets involved.
Brockie recalls a time when a man was screaming and punching a tree in broad daylight. When dispatchers got the call they evaluated it as a mental health crisis.
“People go ‘oh, that doesn’t happen.’ No, yeah that person was not affiliated with campus, but they’re on campus, so we have to investigate,” Brockie said.
Both social workers said that CAST not only refers students to campus resources but off-campus ones as well.
“Some other resources, like thinking specifically off campus [are] maybe food pantries, shelters or mental health services,” De Loera said.
Psychology major Mikaela Maamo welcomes the idea that law enforcement teamed up with mental health professionals to help people with their mental health status. Despite that, she is a bit skeptical of the idea as she sees the police as a “corrupt system.”
Marketing major Jose Hernandez believes that CAST can be beneficial for students since he thinks mental health isn’t an active topic on campus.
“If you really are down bad or if you really do feel like you have to share and open up, why not take the resources available to you,” Hernandez said.
According to Brockie, CAST mainly provides services to college people, ranging from 18 to 24-years-old. However, sometimes neighboring or further community members visit the campus.
The youngest person CAST has helped during a mental health crises was a 12-year-old. Another example was a person between their mid-60 who was provided services as well. Due to confidentiality no other detail of these two people could be shared by Brockie.
CAST has shown several indications of its success and recently it has been awarded by the National Association of Students Personal Administrators (NASPA). The NASPA selected CAST this year, for their Region VI Innovative Program Award.
Some of the criteria for the award are that the program shows it has improved the growth of students, services and changed life on campus. Other criteria are showing effectiveness, financial creativity and collaboration.
The grant awarded to CAST is approximately $432,965, according to Damian Zavala, associate vice president of Health and Wellness. CAST has not applied for another grant and is committed to preserving their funds to keep the program going.
“Christie, Advocates for Human Potential’s Implementation Specialist, had a chance to tour CSULB early in the implementation of the CAST program,” Zavala said in an email. “And was impressed by the facilities, the vehicles and the passion showed by the staff of both CAST and the entire Health and Wellness Department.”