Student with Mental Illness

BigAppleDaddy
Fri, 07 Sep 2012 17:40:15 +0000

In a case like this where a kid is very clearly going downhill fast, I would not hesitate to get in touch with the kid’s parents directly and let them know about your concerns. That is a rare thing hardly ever done. You don’t know how the parents will react. Or the boy himself. Mom and Dad for all you know could even be part of the problem. But I’d do it anyway because I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to the boy later and I hadn’t at least tried to do something about it.

Hopefully the RA is going through channels, speaking to the boy and perhaps campus counseling. They can do little w/o the boy’s consent unless he’s an obvious danger to himself or others–but cutting is serious business and that might allow them to put at least a 72-hr psych hold on him. And hopefully the campus emergency response team knows about him too, just in case.

Your daughter did the right thing in contacting the RA. Either her or you may now have to contact the parents.