Polaris Health Directions Inc.Helping colleges better address the mental health of their students
Product Highlights
COMS includes assessments of:
✔ Drug and alcohol use
✔ Eating disorders
✔ Subjective well-being, symptoms of psychological disorders (including bipolar and psychosis), functioning disability, academic status and dangerousness to self or others
✔ Treatment history for a psychological problem
✔ Risk for academic failure or dropout
✔ Reasons for wanting counseling and the degree to which the student is bothered by the problem for which they are seeking help, such as academic, roommate or family problems or panic attacks
✔ Strengths on which the counselor can focus to help create a strong bond, and to help the student gain confidence in his or her ability to overcome obstacles
✔ Expectations of the impact of counseling, motivation for treatment, and attitudes toward seeking counseling
✔ Adherence to any prescribed psychoactive medications the student may be taking
Additional benefits include:
✔ Screens for inauthentic response
✔ It’s brief! The assessment takes, on average, 15 minutes to complete.
✔ Helps overwhelmed college health and counseling centers triage students
The Story Behind Polaris-COMS
For many young adults entering college, it is their first time away from home. They are faced with new sources of anxiety and pressure without the support systems they had when in high school. With tragedies such as the one at Virginia Tech University still in the forefront of the nation's memory, it is imperative to have a system in place to detect serious emotional and behavioral health issues before they escalate.
The publication, in 2005, of "College of the Overwhelmed" alerted the nation to a mental health crisis at America's colleges. Citing a national survey, the publication pointed to the significant number of students seen at college health and counseling centers who are suffering from severe and even life-threatening behavioral health disorders, including substance abuse, eating disorders and the contemplation of suicide. Two years later the American College Health Association in conjunction with the National College Health Association, and the Anxiety Disorders Association of America conducted health surveys across the nation to measure the prevalence of mental health problems among college students. The results from the two studies indicated an increase in the number of students seeking treatment; the number of students seeking counseling with an existing history of mental illness also increased. Dropout rates were equally alarming.
The students are not the only ones overwhelmed. The health and counseling centers that treat these students have limited capability to detect these conditions. Many do not have a staff psychiatrist, and among those that do the psychiatrist is often part time. The Polaris team conceived of Polaris-COMS to meet this challenge. With Polaris-COMS, health centers will be able to effectively screen students seeking medical services for alcohol abuse, depression, anxiety and other behavioral disorders, to facilitate pharmacological treatment or refer them to a counseling center.
The system will also demonstrate that the services provided by college health and counseling centers contribute measurably to the health and well-being of students, ameliorate severe psychological disorders, reduce the risk of death or serious injury (such as drinking-related accidents), and contribute to a college's fiscal health by reducing avoidable dropouts.
Contact us at moreinfo@polarishealth.com to learn more about the benefits you will see by using Polaris-COMS.
We are committed to helping you succeed in improving the mental health outcomes of the students you serve.
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