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Friday, January 17, 2020 — 3
CAPS
From Page 2
country to do this — (is) we have a care
manager,” Sevig said. “So we developed
one person, and now we have two full-
time people, to help with referrals that
take a little work.”
Emphasis on referring to East Lansing
professionals also impacts the goal of
students visiting MSU CAPS. According
to The State News, MSU CAPS only offers
students three free appointments, after
which appointments must be covered by
insurance or out of the student’s pocket.
U-M CAPS, in contrast, never charges
students
and
offers
free
counseling
indefinitely for those with extenuating
circumstances that prevent them from
finding appropriate, outside long-term care.
Sevig said U-M CAPS’ efforts to provide
medium and longer-term service without
charging students means it cannot base
its appointment model on walk-ins like
MSU CAPS. The report showed about 26
percent of patients saw CAPS for six or
more sessions last school year.
CAPS can offer longer treatment
for students who are experiencing
a complex reaction to a traumatic
event, are uninsured or do not have
transportation to off-campus referrals.
Sevig said the average number of
sessions is four to five, but it is important
to continuously make appointments
available.
“We’ll see the person,” Sevig said.
“We’ll do it whenever we can. Our staff
will do extra to fit students in, but I would
like to, on a systemic level, increase our
ongoing work to do more than average.”
While students have complained
about the inadequacy of CAPS at the
University, many schools look to U-M
services as a model to improve their own
programs. Patishnock said Sevig has
been helping MSU develop their CAPS
service, which has been around for less
than two years.
“We have 29 full-time counselors,”
Patishnock said. “I understand the
University of Michigan has even more
counselors per student. We’re trying to
get ourselves about even with where you
guys are.”
Big Ten Conference and Okanagan
Charter
The University is not alone in its
efforts
to
improve
mental
health.
Representatives
from
CAPS
attend
the yearly Big Ten Counseling Centers
Convention to exchange ideas with
similar-sized schools. According to Sevig,
the idea for embedded counselors — a
branch of professionals from CAPS who
specialize in the culture and students
of different colleges throughout the
University — came from Northwestern
University and the University of Iowa.
“It was really radical because in our
profession, we have this idea that you have
to come to us,” Sevig said. “So I waited
for them to implement it for a year, and it
was still working really well there. Then
I wrote up this model for seven of our
staff to be with the four schools on North
Campus and three of the professional
schools on Central Campus and it all got
funded.”
The University is also a member of
the Okanagan Charter, an international
charter for health-promoting universities
and colleges aimed at promoting overall
well-being
on
campus.
Wolverine
Wellness Director Mary Jo Desprez
said the charter guides many of the
University’s efforts on mental health.
To
illustrate
how
the
Charter’s
framework could improve day-to-day
practices, Desprez gave the example of
a professor who can choose between
setting a paper deadline at midnight or
at six o’clock in the morning. While the
six o’clock deadline gives students more
time, she said many students would stay
up all night writing.
“There’s no reason the paper can’t be
due at three o’clock in the afternoon,”
Desprez said. “That is a way a faculty
member can contribute to the health and
well-being of the community just based
on one small change.”
Orientation
During
freshman
orientation,
the
Educational
Theater
Company
performances mention CAPS and include
a presentation for parents as well.
However, many students told The Daily
they are unaware of how they can make an
appointment with CAPS and how to get to
their office. LSA sophomore Eva Schwarz
told The Daily that finding out how to
make an appointment was more difficult
than making the actual appointment.
“I went to make an appointment and it
took a lot of navigating, figure out how to
watch a video and then the video, people
acting out like a scene and then it finally
tells you how to make your appointment,
which you can’t even do online,” Schwarz
said. “To me, it seems like such an ordeal
to go through the process of trying to use
the University’s resources.”
Schwarz
did
not
remember
the
information from orientation, raising
concerns if it actually sticks with students.
In contrast, Ben Crino, Western
Michigan University sophomore, told
The Daily that WMU tells students about
their mental health resources and how
they work during orientation. Unlike
the University students interviewed, he
remembered this information.
“I did my orientation a month before
school started and they take you right to
the building, then they take you inside
and they take you to one of the rooms,”
Crino said. “They take your whole group
like a tour, but they make sure to really
cover that place. You know where it is on
campus, you know what it looks like and
you know how to (make an appointment).”
When asked if the University was
aware that students felt they did not
retain information presented about CAPS
during orientation, Sevig said he would
be open to working on ways to make the
information more prevalent. He said he
would be interested in making a CAPS
office stop as part of the campus tour like
Western Michigan does.
“I think that’s a great idea,” Sevig said.
“We’d be happy to do it.”
Wellness Clubs at Other Universities
Student efforts to improve the well-
being on campus are also not unique to
Ann Arbor, as examples of like-minded
organizations can be found across the
country.
For
example,
Northwestern
University’s Happiness Club “encourages
and facilitates random acts of kindness
… creating moments that lead those
involved to think, ‘That just made my
day!’” according to the organization’s
website.
The University of California, Berkeley,
often ranked as a top public university
along with the University of Michigan, is
home to mental health promotion clubs
like You Mean More, De-Stress with Dogs
and Art & Mind.
Akash Rathod, a freshman at the
University of California, Berkeley, said he
is grateful for the student support at the
highly competitive school. He recently
attended a session for the Berkeley
University Health Services nutrition
team focusing on the intersection of
healthy food and well-being. Rathod
said he believes having wellness clubs is
important to students prioritizing their
mental health.
“I think the organizations have had
a positive impact,” Rathod said. “A
lot of students that need the help and
were previously not getting the help
are getting more resources and are in a
better position now.”
together to feed off the energy of
the people next to you and really
feed off the music,” Krull said.
“You’re supposed to disconnect
from your phone, from metrics …
really enjoy that 45 minutes of your
day for yourself.”
LSA freshman Celene Philip has
participated in SoulCycle classes
before. Philip said she enjoys the
non-competitive aspect of the
workout.
“The instructors stress a lot
that the only person you’re here
for is yourself, and they stress a
lot about the idea that you don’t
have to follow their guidelines,”
Philip said. “You just need to push
yourself enough that you are out of
your comfort zone.”
Krull said each class is capped at
47 people and led by an instructor.
The
selection
process
for
instructors is competitive, she said.
After regional auditions, Krull
said
prospective
instructors
spend eight weeks in New York
City or Los Angeles to train.
Then, they teach practice classes
in
their
respective
markets,
which Krull described as having
“cut-throat”
competition
with
high expectations for technique
perfection.
SoulCycle faced controversy in
August when its owner, prominent
University donor Stephen M. Ross,
held a fundraiser for President
Donald
Trumps’s
re-election
campaign. SoulCycle released a
statement on Twitter, signed by
CEO Melanie Whelan, saying
the company did not endorse the
fundraiser.
LSA sophomore Nicole Lin
participates in Michigan Muscle
Club
and
has
heard
about
SoulCycle from her teammates.
She said she is hoping to try it.
“I’ve heard a lot about cycling
classes, so I would be willing to
try it,” Lin said. “It’s really good
cardio, especially since I’m not a
fan of running.”
However,
Lin
is
slightly
concerned about the prices of the
classes. New riders receive an offer
of $20 per class, and $26 per class
afterwards. In an email to The
Daily, Kimberly Gibbs, SoulCycle’s
director of public relations and
communications, noted that for
the first time ever at the Ann Arbor
studio, SoulCycle is offering a
discounted $22 class for students
with a valid ID.
Philip
shared
a
similar
sentiment to Lin’s regarding cost,
but said she thinks it will be a fun
workout she can do every once in
a while.
“It can be pretty hard for people
to afford it,” Philip said. “On one
hand, it can be good for people
who come from big cities that often
do SoulCycle when they’re home
so they can have a piece of home
to bring with them to Ann Arbor.
But I also think that hopefully
SoulCycle will market it in a way
that’s more accessible to people
here.”
SOULCYCLE
From Page 1
“The thing that’s different
about this particular picture is
that it’s cognitively balanced
and the virtues have opposites,”
Quinn said. “This picture is
very simple, yet very complex.
The average manager does not
have this picture in their head.”
His
final
point,
social
excellence, was based on the
story of Gerry Anderson, chief
executive officer of DTE Energy.
When the recession of 2008 hit,
Quinn said Anderson consulted
with a financial advisor and was
told he would have to cut his
labor force. According to Quinn,
Anderson decided to be honest
with his employees.
“Gerry goes to his ‘herd of
horses’ and he says, ‘Let me share
with you what’s really going
on,’” Quinn said. “‘I don’t want
to downsize. I’ll do anything to
avoid downsizing. Problem is, I
don’t know what to do. I believe
you (the employees) do.’”
Quinn made the point CEOs
do not typically admit when
they do not know something.
However,
Quinn
claimed
Anderson’s authenticity helped
the company have its best year
in 2010.
Chinelo Onuigbo, CJ Greer
and Ty Moreno are master’s
students in the School of Social
Work. Onuigbo said the three
came to the talk for a class.
Moreno also said they wanted
to learn new leadership styles.
“We came here because we’re
learning about new leadership
styles and new philosophies,”
Moreno said. “Not just, ‘You do
what I say,’ but, ‘What does the
group want?’ The idea of group
wisdom versus manager wisdom.”
Onuigbo said she enjoyed
the talk and liked the multiple
options provided.
“There were a lot of different
models to consider and maybe
adapt to different scenarios and
work styles,” Onuigbo said.
Greer said he particularly liked
the example with Anderson.
“I thought that the talk was
very innovative, and it was
very practical in the examples
that it used, especially hitting
close to home using DTE as an
example,” Greer said.
However,
though
Moreno
enjoyed the talk, she admitted
she had heard much of it before.
She speculated the talk might be
differently received by different age
groups in the audience.
“Individuals
from
the
community who are out
of school and are much
older and maybe learning
this as something brand
new,” Moreno said. “And
there’s
students
who,
I
think from our generation,
are already hip to this. It’s
very intuitive because we
are not a generation who
wants to be told what to do.
We aren’t a generation that
doesn’t
have
confidence
in our own answers. To
see this laid out in an
educational framework is
nice, but I didn’t think it
was revolutionary.”
POSITIVITY
From Page 1
DESIGN BY MICHELLE FAN
DINGELL
From Page 1
EPA
Deputy
Director
Joan Tanaka expressed
the importance of the
EPA working with state
officials
to
contain
the
toxic
chemicals
spreading
throughout
the groundwater in Ann
Arbor.
“We understand that
lots of stuff is going on
right now, there’s going
to be a lot of talking,”
Tanaka said. “I don’t
think
anybody
wants
the
problems
to
get
worse and so we would
be working together to
figure out how it could
not (get worse).”
Tanaka also said the
site
is
not
currently
considered a Superfund
site, a site requiring long-
term care which receives
government
support,
because the groundwater
contamination is not at
a point of causing harm
to people. Without this
classification, it does not
require emergency funds
for cleanup from the EPA
or from the responsible
party, Gelman Sciences,
Tanaka said.
Currently, EGLE is in
charge of making sure
the level of the toxic
dioxane chemical stays
below a certain level and
does not harm Ann Arbor
residents.
The
meeting
then
moved to city and county
officials asking the panel
specific questions. Most
of the questions were
geared
towards
the
EGLE, Attorney General
official and the EPA to
better
understand
the
timeline of diminishing
the plume.
Tanaka
explained
that at most it would
take
approximately
25
years for the plume to
be entirely cleaned up
by the EPA, but in the
meantime,
EGLE
will
continue to monitor the
plume.
The
discussion
then
opened up to questions
from
all
community
members in attendance.
Community
members
asked
questions
about
the timeline of cleanup
efforts and who would be
in charge of the cleanups.
Rita Loch-Caruso, an
environmental
health
sciences professor who
attended
the
panel,
spoke to The Daily after
the meeting about her
concerns.
“I’m
very
concerned
about the plume,” Loch-
Caruso said. “I live on
the west side of Ann
Arbor
and
I’ve
been
going to these meetings
for over ten years, and I
have watched the plume
advance
toward
my
property. I’ve lived in our
home for over 35 years
year. The plume is now
under my house.”
Loch-Caruso
also
discussed her thoughts
on
the
community
meeting after hearing the
different representatives
from
the
different
agencies speak. She left
the meeting feeling like
there is more work to be
done on this issue.
“What
I
take
away
is that we still have an
uphill battle to climb,”
Loch-Caruso said. “It’s
not clear to me though
that
the
regulatory
groups from the different
government agencies and
the different government
entities and jurisdictions
are really going to be
able to come together in
agreement, but I really
hope so because I think
we need a solution.”