Petition launched to replace Pitt psychiatrist

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A petition has been set up to call on the University of Pittsburgh counseling center to replace their resident psychiatrist, whose last day was yesterday.

Anna Shaw, the petition’s creator, says: “The thirty hours of psychiatric care available each week has now dropped down to zero until further notice, which also means that hundreds of students have lost access to their medications until they replace the position.”

Though the university is searching for a replacement, the petition author is concerned they did not find one in time for the known date of their former psychiatrist’s departure.

Sophomore Adam Argentine told us: “I’m glad they’re searching for a replacement, but super disappointed that there’s not one there to immediately step in. You can’t mess around with mental health like that.”

He added: “I feel sorry for all the people who lost their prescriptions.”

Junior Daneya Johnson told us: “I found myself waiting weeks to meet with a counselor, I even went for walk-in hours and sat between classes only find that walk-in hours were extremely busy and limited.

“It wasn’t until I knew I was unsafe that I sought help outside of the university. The whole process was extremely scary and damn near debilitating. I never went back even when I needed to.

“I’d rather suffer alone than ask for help and not get it due to being part of the overflow. Losing another crucial staff member will only put more students in my predicament and thats actually terrifying to think about.”

You can view and sign the petition here.

Update: 

The university has told us that that the counseling center has “made sure that every student who had been receiving psychiatry services from us has an aftercare psychiatry plan, including access to the medications that they need. Every student who requests psychiatric services from us is provided with the help necessary to connect them to a psychiatrist in the community.”

Cover image courtesy of Daneya Johnson

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