Mansfield YAP College
If you have ever seen the movie “A Beautiful Mind,” in which the lead character played by Russell Crowe begins to experience signs of mental health issues in college, you can identify with this fact – college can bring a whole host of new challenges for young adults, with more than 25 percent of students diagnosed or treated for a mental health condition each year.
Approximately 21 percent of those who seek help present with a severe mental health condition.
In the movie, a true story, Crowe’s character ended up winning the Pulitzer Prize and overcame severe schizophrenia. While real-life doesn’t often produce such dramatic results, Natchaug Hospital’s patients offer every day proof that mental illness can be overcome and in many cases patients can thrive in education, the workforce, with families and in life in general.
Natchaug is now partnering with behavioral health student services at the University of Connecticut and Eastern Connecticut State University to create a college track at the Mansfield Young Adult Program.
The program will offer a more intensive level of care than what is currently offered on campus.
Students with higher acuity mental health or substance abuse issues will be able to be treated quickly, stabilized and stepped down to lower levels of care through student health services.
The college program will offer new evening hours to better fit the schedule of students, and transportation will also be provided to the program from local college campuses, for those without access to cars. New therapy groups will be included that focus on issues relevant to college students such as stress, the number one behavioral health issue identified amongst UConn students.