Nearly every student who walks through the door at either of the venues signs a form allowing clinicians to consult about the patient.

“Virtually 100 percent of students sign it,” Ducey says.

But actual records of a student are still kept by the individual venue the student uses—a situation that can be particularly critical if a bureau patient goes to UHS during urgent care hours.

“That’s just impossible—we just can’t have that,” Hyman says of the current inability to share files when a student is in urgent care. “That could be life threatening.”

The task force is looking at ways to solve this problem, possibly by electronically sharing files.

“We probably need to get legal consultation about not only that, but whether its electronically possible,” Ducey says.

Slipping Through the Cracks

With no central source of oversight, and services diffused across different segments of the University, it’s not hard for a troubled student to get lost in the system.

After seeing a UHS therapist for six months, Kleindienst decided to abruptly end her treatment.

“When she was like, ‘Go make an appointment at the front desk in two or three weeks,’ I just left,” Kleindienst says. “I wondered if she’d ever contact me, but I haven’t seen her or heard from her since.”

Kestenbaum, a past president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, says that there should be one mechanism for following students through various care options.

“There should be a record, saying, here, this student went to this doctor and then this doctor, and here’s a list,” Kestenbaum says. “There should be a list for students of everything that’s offered with a little description of the different therapies—it should all be in one place where you can see what’s available. Kids shouldn’t have to search it out on their own, they should be available to look at it, like on a grid.”

D., the Harvard senior with anxiety disorder, says that the patients have to carry too much of the responsibility.

“I feel that once the patient gets his foot in the door, you shouldn’t have to seek treatment out,” D. says. “People should advise you, and that never happened.”

Charles L. Black ’04, who examined mental health services at the College last fall, agrees that there needs to be a centralized system to track and follow up with students.