Faced with an almost 25 percent increase in visits compared to last year, the college Wellness Center, which provides on-campus access to health services, nutrition services and counseling and psychiatric services, has expanded its hours and is taking measures to fill a Drug and Alcohol Counselor position that has been vacant since September.

In its Nov. 2015 report to the faculty, the Division of Student Life recorded “an increase of 23 percent in the total numbers of students seen and a 24 percent increase in the number of visits” between July and Fall Pause 2015, compared to the same period in 2014.

Dr. Alecia Sundsmo, director of the Wellness Center, pointed to the large first-year class as a likely cause of the increased visits to the center, noting that “first year students are consistently our highest utilizers of services at the Wellness Center.” Sundsmo said that the Wellness Center has responded to the increased demand by expanding its staff and hours.

“We did anticipate that demand for services, particularly in the Counseling and Psychiatric Services, were going to increase this year and therefore we have increased the number of hours both with our psychiatrist and with our counseling staff, including hiring an additional part-time counselor this year who started the week of fall pause,” Sundsmo said.

“It is important for students to know that we are doing our best to keep up with demand and that they can always get same day access to a counselor should they need urgent assistance during our Open Hours.”

Despite these accommodations, some students are still struggling to secure appointments. Students who have tried to schedule visits to the wellness center, particularly for psychiatric and counseling services, allege that they can secure an appointment only after an excessive waiting period.

The office is facing additional challenges beyond the expansion of the student body. The full-time Alcohol and Drug counselor position has been vacant since the beginning of the semester, and the Wellness Center staff is in the process of filling the vacancy.

“Our former Alcohol and Drug Counselor got a promotion at the beginning of the semester and ended his position with us in mid-September,” Sundsmo said. “We then posted the position, did two rounds of interviews, phone and in person, mostly in October, have been doing reference checks in November and are in the final stages of negotiation with two strong candidates.”

Sundsmo said that the Wellness Center hopes to have the position filled “shortly.”