For years, Cornell students have expressed their frustrations with the University’s mental healthcare services, including struggling to book appointments with counselors at Cornell Health and feeling like the counseling team was gravely understaffed.
Now, a $20 million donation to Cornell Health promises to expand mental health care on campus, including by hiring therapists to be directly embedded in Cornell’s undergraduate and graduate schools.
The donation — made by Cornellian parents John and Melissa Ceriale — will fund the recruitment of seven new therapists to be placed within Cornell’s schools, according to Julie Edwards, assistant vice president for student health and wellbeing. Cornell Health’s building on Ho Plaza will be named The Ceriale Center for Cornell Health in recognition of the gift.
These new therapists — directly placed in Cornell’s academic environment — will provide individual counseling, psychoeducational support, mental health guidance related to academic stressors and connections to campus and other resources, Edwards told The Sun in an email.
Currently, there are two embedded therapists working with students — one in Ithaca within the College of Veterinary Medicine and another in New York City on the Cornell Tech campus. A third was recently hired to support student-athletes and is expected to join the Counseling and Psychological Services team in November.
According to their website, the services currently provided by Cornell’s CAPS include drop-in consultations for students in need of a “one-time brief conversation with a provider,” short-term individual therapy, group counseling, workshops and referrals.
When asked why Cornell Health lacks long-term one-on-one counseling services, Edwards wrote that “most college health counseling centers are not resourced to provide long-term clinical support” and that “students needing or desiring this level of care can be referred to local in-person and telehealth providers.”
The gift will also fund the expansion of Cornell’s well-being coaching program.
Well-being coaches partner with students in one-on-one meetings and use “evidence-based skills to help students examine personal strengths, values and motivation for change, learn new life skills and strategies for success,” Edwards said in her email.
Well-being Coaching is not a clinical service and coaches are full-time Cornell staff from a range of backgrounds, including West Campus deans and academic advisors.
The Ceriale’s gift will also allow Cornell Health to hire a position dedicated to managing the Well-being Coaching program and coordinating the program’s outreach to students.
Vice President Ryan Lombardi expressed his gratitude to the Ceriale family for their “remarkable gift” in an email to The Sun.
“I look forward to seeing the impact of these resources as they enhance our support for students and energize the programs already driving student well-being and success,” Lombardi wrote.