Supporting distressed students

New psychiatrist joins staff

The Decker Student Health Services Center has hired an additional psychiatrist to serve students on a part-time basis. Salvatore Argiro, MD, a board-certified psychiatrist, is also a staff psychiatrist at the Greater Binghamton Health Center, and for three years was the Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CPEP) and consultation liaison medical director for UHS at Binghamton General Hospital, providing direct clinical supervision of staff, as well as administrative support and clinical management of all cases. He also served for a year as a consulting psychiatric provider for the Binghamton Veterans Center.

Argiro completed his bachelor’s degree in nutrition science and his master’s degree in neuroscience at Syracuse University and received his doctor of medicine degree from SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, where he also completed his psychiatry residency.

Argiro believes that medicine provides a potent framework for understanding and helping people with psychological ailments, but it is rarely sufficient. Psychological understanding and skillful application of psychotherapy is needed for healing to flourish more deeply and meaningfully for those served and he looks forward to his new role that is more focused on mental health.

Mental health resources – where to get help

A one-time program offered last fall to introduce available counseling resources to international and minority students was so successful that it was presented again this spring and will likely continue to evolve to meet student needs.

According to Nicole Sirju-Johnson, director of the Multicultural Resource Center (MRC), the campus has seen an increase in the number of international and students of color withdrawing due to mental health issues, so the program was timely.

“We thought it would be very helpful to do an event that was directly yet indirectly encouraging students to use counseling in a more programmatic way,” said Sirju-Johnson. The University Counseling Center has recently hired two counselors – one African American and one Asian – to work with students who might be more likely to use the counseling center’s services if there were people they could identify with.

The MRC Speaking Up & Getting Support: Knowing When it’s Time to Get Help was held initially in November, co-sponsored by the University Counseling Center, International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS), the Dean of Students Office and the Student Association’s Vice President for Multicultural Affairs.

Panelists included Beth Riley, case manager with the Dean of Students Office; Garrett Fitzgerald, associate director of Alcohol & Other Drug Programs and Services; Doris Cheung, Mental Health Association of the Southern Tier, Inc.; and Sangmoon Kim and LeAnna Rice, counselors with the University Counseling Center.

The on- and off-campus resources came together nicely said SIrju-Johnson. “It was initially going to be a one-time deal though we would offer it again if we had a good response,” she said. Seventy-four students attended – an excellent turnout – with about 20 graduate students and the rest undergraduate students. 

The spring program, offered on March 5, was co-sponsored by the University Counseling Center and the ISSS. With the exception of Cheung, the panelists from the fall program presented again. About 30 students attended, with 12 graduate students and the rest undergraduate. All schools at the University were represented over the course of the fall and spring programs.

One message for students at both programs was that there are resources other beyond the Dean of Students Office and the MRC that can be utilized “before things go from bad to worse.”

Many students arrive at Binghamton with a history of mental illness, but their parents hope that by the time they get here, their experiences will change them, said Sirju-Johnson. “Oftentimes, it doesn’t. It’s just a different set of stressors that students need to learn how to manage. We want students to know what they need to do to be proactive.”

The programs are really about stress management for students, no matter what their stressors are, said SIrju-Johnson. “We might have different activities moving forward, but always with the same focus, to tie into the healthy campus initiative, encourage more students to utilize the case manager function more, and finally, to be aware of all of the counseling programs offered.”

The next program is scheduled to be held May 3, to remind students of available resources before final exams.