Hyman said it was also a plus that Barreira is already so familiar with the problems and intricacies of the Harvard system after chairing the task force for several months.
“He is in some sense a proven quantity through his very skillful leadership of the task force, which will allow him to hit the ground running, which is very, very important,” Hyman said.
Hyman specifically cited Barreira’s knowledge of the communication problems inherent in Harvard’s current mental health system.
Barreira said that while his work on the task force will be helpful to him, he still needs to familiarize himself with graduate students and programs, the international student population, the connections between substance abuse and mental health and other facets of mental health that the task force did not examine in depth.
Barreira said that changes in outreach and residential support will be implemented by the beginning of the next school year.
“I hope that when students return they’ll see an even more robust effort at providing information and education about the broader issues of wellness and mental health, as well as information in different formats about the Bureau and UHS and what kinds of resources exist.”
There will be tutors focused specifically on mental health in the Houses, and a push to provide more consistent residential resources overall.
Barreira said he did not know if he would have a separate staff, but that he would probably have his office in the Bureau of Study Counsel building.
The disposition of the Bureau fits best with the broad range of services and educational outreaches, he said.
“The Bureau deals with more than just providing clinical services to students. It aims to look in a broader way at the needs of the Harvard community,” Barreira said. “It’s useful to be located at the Bureau.”
Barreira said he will also probably see some patients at UHS Mental Health Services urgent care hours and do some initial evaluation of students who are seeking mental health care.
Though he will continue to see a few long-time patients, Barreira will give up most of his responsibilities at McLean to concentrate on his new position.
Hyman said that there currently exists a critical need to reexamine mental health services at universities across the country.
Having one person dedicated to the full range of mental health services on campus is vital, Hyman said.
“The first and most important thing is that now we’re going to have some person who wakes up every morning thinking about the whole range of mental health issues—we just haven’t had that before. That’s really critical,” Hyman said.
—Stephen M. Marks contributed to the reporting of this story.
—Staff writer Katharine A. Kaplan can be reached at kkaplan@fas.harvard.edu.