Psychological Services Plays Vital Role

Psychological Services plays vital role Adapting to university life has always presented problems. Not so many years ago students had very limited professional help available. To-day it is different. At the University of Guelph a Department of Psychological Services is available to students who have problems severe enough to interfere with their academic pursuits or personal development. Some 70- 80% of the 750 Guelph students who are expected to seek professional help from the Department during this coming year fall into this category. They are not technically ill in psychological terms but will still spend an average of some five hours in the clinic. Dr. Don Upton, Director of Psychological Services describes these problems by indicating three crucial periods in the students university career. The first occurs within a couple of weeks of arriving on campus. Emancipated from family and parents, no longer a slave Preparing for a semi weekly staff meeting are left to right, Dr. Eugene Brailsford; Bob Jackson to rigorous secondary school schedules and and George Dennison, interns from the Waterloo-Luthern School of Social Work; Dr. Don Upton; discipline, and confronted with an entirely Bruce Brillinger; and Dr. Stan Litch. new social environment, the freshman may not be able to adjust to the abrupt changes. But times and universities have changed. fatigue — not uncommonly, their performance changes. Twenty years ago, universities were smaller, and drops and invariably, the continual pressure Perhaps most disturbing for the new student because of this, less complicated. Students has an emotional effect. is the uncertainty of the university setting. were names, not numbers. Professors could, Who are the 750 students who will become His commitments are less clear-cut than in the with the smaller classes, single out students Psych Services clients? Is it possible to predict working world or high school. The students who needed help and encouragement. which students will have problems? controls and limitations come from within. The second significant difference between In very general terms, clients fall in certain "Sophomore slump" creeps up during the past and present is the much wider choice of categories. High achievers and low performers second year when the student questions his careers open to university graduates (100 seek help more frequently than the average presence in university and his choice of degree ti mes as many fields are now open). Chosing student. Girls and guys come in equal numbers. program; he sees a discrepency between his the right field, especially in view of the tight First year students come most frequently, as courses and the real world; and he considers job market, has many graduates in a quandary. they struggle with initial adjustment to the the classical academic rhetoric irrelvant to Given sufficient time, most of the students university. his life. With these doubts, he becomes apathe- seeking help could probably come to terms Warning against generalizations, Dr. Upton tic about studies and disillusioned with the with their own problems. But they dont have draws a correlation between degree program entire university scene. ti me. In a 13-week semester, one or two weeks and student problems. "The less structured The third "crisis" period hits during the of severe depression or inability to concentrate the degree program and the greater the un- final year, when the student is forced to make could disrupt academic performance for the certainty of its leading to a specific career, the a hard, cold, realistic appraisal of his post- entire semester. greater the likihood that the student will need university plans. He questions his personal and This "critical time loss factor" of one to help." vocational identity. two weeks necessitates an effective and im- Students from professional programs and "So whats new?" you may say. University mediately accessible Psychological service. By graduate students, in contrast, almost never students have faced these traumas for years way of comparison, the critical time loss factor seek help. They have identified themselves without the help of professional therapists. at universities operating on a year term is with a career to which their academic work Everyone over the "generation demarcation" considered 12 to 18 weeks. directly leads. Also contributing to their of 30 dismisses Psych Services with a disdainful The three-semester system creates some mental well-being is the "in-group support" "In my day, we managed to survive without psychological problems unique to Guelph. of these programs. The classes are generally psychologists and psychiatrists. I cant imagine Students who attend three, four or five smaller; the same group of students attend whats wrong with students today." consecutive semesters often suffer semester Continued on page 7 2 Ontario ethnic newspapers to be microfilmed Animal energetics is seminar topic A project to microfilm ethnic newspapers In addition to the microfilming itself, a published in Ontario has been announced by bibliography will be published which will list the Ontario Council of University Librarians the ethnic newspaper titles published in Ontario, (OCUL). These newspapers furnish a vivid give a brief history of each, and indicate where Some differences in the energetics of animals portrayal of the rich contributions of a wide original copies and films are located. The was the title of a seminar presented recently range of ethnic groups to the social and cultural project will encompass both retrospective and in the Department of Animal and Poultry life of Ontario, and provide an invaluable current titles, and will complement, rather than Science. source of information for historians, sociolo- duplicate, similar microfilming projects for The seminar was presented by Dr. J. T. Reid, gists, authors, political scientists and others other types of Canadian newspapers, such as Professor of Animal Nutrition and Chairman of concerned with the development of the that operated for a number of years by the the Department of Animal Science, Cornell Province. The present project will assure the Canadian Library Association. The present University. preservation of a valuable provincial resource project resumes a similar effort begun several Dr. Reids work in animal energetics and and increase the availability of research materi- years ago by the Toronto Public Library but body composition is recognized throughout the not completed. al which is frequently difficult to locate. world. He is a recipient of the American The project will seek cooperation from Society of Animal Sciences Morrison Award, libraries, publishers, historical societies, archival the American Dairy Sciences Borden Award organizations and other interested bodies in and the Nutrition Award, among others that UK ethologist Ontario and elsewhere. recognize his contributions. The OCUL project is financed cooperatively His seminar presentation was a comparative by the fourteen provincially assisted university treatise of energetics in animals and man. The presents seminar li braries and is sponsored by the OCUL Standing presentation was of considerable interest to Committee on Cooperation in Acquisitions. many in the Department of Animal and Poultry This Committee is working on a variety of Science, as considerable work is in progress on possibilities for greater cooperation in acquir- the areas of energy utilization and energy Dr. Marthe Kiley, an ethologist from the ing research materials among the Ontario value of animal feeds. Consultations with School of Biology at the University of Sussex university libraries. faculty and a brief Workshop followed Dr. in Brighton, England, presented a seminar in Mr. Duncan McLaren, who has been named Reids presentation. the Department of Animal and Poultry Science Microfilm Project Manager, will carry out regarding behavioural problems of farm animals this work under the supervision of the Office Dr. Kiley placed great emphasis on the of Library Coordination of the Council of fact that many of our modern engineering Ontario Universities. and management accomplishments have placed The above story on the microfilming of farm animals in unstimulating environments. ethnic newspapers appeared in the The speaker stressed that this trend must be September issue of the Council of Ontario corrected if the livestock industry is to become Universities Monthly Review. more efficient in the future. Dr. J. T. Reid, Chairman of the Department of Animal Science, Cornell University, seated left, is shown prior to his leading a seminar on some differences in the energetics of animals. Also seated is Dr. Wayne Gillis, Department of Animal and Poultry Science, chairman of the seminar series. Standing from left: Dr. Bruce Stone, Animal and Poultry Science, and Dr. W. D. Morrison, Chairman of the Department of Animal and Poultry Science. The News Bulletin is published every Thursday by the University of Guelphs Department of Information. News items must reach the Dr. M. Kiley, centre, from the University of Sussex, was on campus to give a seminar on the editor, Mrs. Betty Keeling, at the Information office, Room 361, McLaughlin Library (Ext. behavioural problems in farm animals. The seminar was attended by faculty and students in the 3863) by noon Friday. Articles and news Department of Animal and Poultry Science. Also shown, standing, Dr. J. Frank Hurnick, and items may be quoted or reproduced in full. Dr. Don E. Grieve, both of the Department. 3 President Winegard to present U of G Brief Dr. W. C. Winegard will lead a delegation to present the University of Guelph Brief contain- ing comments on the current situation to the Committee on University Affairs at the University of Waterloo on Tuesday morning, November 9. The brief, which has been ap- proved by Senate and the Board of Governors was earlier outlined to the Guelph faculty and staff by the President. The brief also contains a review of long term plans to 1976. The format of the Brief from each provincial university is similar in that it is designed to answer a series of questions posed by CUA.

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