Ester Raha Nyaggah, GS, was so turned off by her initial visit to Columbia’s Counseling and Psychological Services that it took her a year to try again, despite knowing that she was dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“We didn’t mesh at all,” Nyaggah, a military veteran, said of the doctor initially assigned to her by CPS.
Upon returning to CPS in the spring of 2011, Nyaggah said the department told her that “they weren’t able to adequately counsel veterans dealing specifically with PTSD,” so they referred her to an external counselor who would still be covered by Aetna Student Health, the University’s health insurance provider.
Since Nyaggah’s visit in 2011, Columbia has seen a rise in student veterans. In response, CPS has gained two staff members who have specific training in dealing with military veterans, and the School of General Studies has added veteran-specific programs to the GS new student orientation.
And while many veterans are pleased with the improvements, some still feel that their needs are not being met.
Jose Robledo, a military veteran in GS and a University senator, said that he is aware of student veterans’ reluctance to use CPS. Previously, veterans felt the CPS staff “might not have the experience in dealing with veterans” that would be required to help them.
Referring to the new hires, Robledo added that they “just got here, so it’s going to take a while for them to fully connect with us.”
Another problem is CPS’s limited outreach efforts, according to some veterans.
Dr. Anne Goldfield, associate director of outreach for CPS, said the department maintains a close relationship with the School of General Studies, which houses the majority of the University’s veterans. CPS holds meetings with the MilVets organization on campus as well as workshops for GS veterans throughout the year, Goldfield said.
But she emphasized that veterans are no more different from any other Columbia student. “We know that veterans have many needs, but so do all students, so we don’t want veterans to feel in any way stigmatized by our seeing them as needing our services,” she said.
Robledo said that while it’s true that not all veterans suffer from PTSD, it’s still hard to figure out exactly how many do need help.
“If a person needs it, they might not know they need it. And even if they know they need it, they might not want it because of peer issues,” he said.
Veteran Cameron Baker, GS, agreed that veterans are unlikely to admit they are struggling or to be proactive about seeking help.
“We definitely come from a culture of very individualistic [people]. You’re expected to be able to handle tough situations, tough environments. You’re expected to be able to process it and perform as well as or better for it,” he said.
Baker started at Columbia in 2008, right at the beginning of the enactment of the Yellow Ribbon Program, a federal financial aid initiative for veterans authorized by the GI Bill. Like Nyaggah, Baker also visited CPS when he first came to the University, but ultimately stopped going because he said he found the counselors unhelpful.
After feeling dissatisfied with CPS, Baker and a few friends took their concerns to the University, and CPS “started adjusting their services to tailor to the incoming veterans,” he said.
“The first year we were here, it was ‘stay away from it—just go to the VA,’” Baker said, referring to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. But, after the strides CPS has taken to accommodate veterans, “people are a little more encouraging of it,” he said.
This past year, Goldfield held a panel discussion at GS’ new student orientation, where she asked questions of current student veterans, discussing “coping, and transition, and resources, as well as just general ideas about education at Columbia and how they’re doing with it,” she said.
In addition to these types of public programs, Goldfield said that CPS uses Veterans Affairs hospitals as resources to increase the Columbia staff’s awareness of veteran issues.
“I think the collaborative piece is very important with the VA, because veterans often know very much about the VA,” said Brad Badgley, senior health promotion specialist at Alice! Health Services, who is a military veteran himself.
GS Dean Peter Awn has worked closely with CPS to make Columbia a comfortable place for veterans. “I don’t think there is a more responsive, a more engaged provider on this campus than Health Services,” he said.
The trick, he said, “is convincing people to go to Health Services.”
That is precisely the issue the student veterans feel still needs to be addressed.
“CPS is doing everything that they know how to do to help the veteran population,” Robledo said. “I would say that the veteran population is a very tricky population to target, so I understand their difficulties. My critique of what they’re doing is not a critique of their failures, but a critique of their system and the way we think.”
Robledo said he feels a more aggressive outreach to the veteran community—via the GS administration, Alice! programs, or, more personally, by contacting the MilVets leadership—would inform students of the services that CPS offers and potentially make them more comfortable about asking for help.
Baker had a different suggestion. “I don’t think there’s a large portion of the veterans who need those services,” he said. Instead, he thought CPS should focus on “perhaps doing a better job of identifying those people who do.”
“They definitely need to get people early on in this process, ’cause if they don’t, I know people like me and other vets are not going to do it willingly—we definitely need a nudge in the right direction,” Baker said.
Goldfield said she and the other staff at CPS are always happy to hear students’ ideas about ways they can improve. “We would absolutely be responsive to anything they sought from us,” she said. “We really don’t want to impose our ideas on them of what their needs are.”
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