5 Questions with Dolores Cimini 

Dolores Cimini, center, talks with staff at Counseling & Psychological Services. Cimini is the Director of the Center for Behavioral Health Promotion and Applied Research.

ALBANY, N.Y. (June 16, 2020) – Dolores Cimini is a licensed psychologist and the director of the Center for Behavioral Health Promotion and Applied Research. She is also the director of the Middle Earth Peer Assistance Program.

What mental health resources are available for students?

We’re living in challenging and unprecedented times, and support resources for members of our campus community are especially important. Even during the summer, there are resources available both at UAlbany and as part of the larger SUNY system:

• Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) now offers telecounseling services for individuals and groups. (To schedule an appointment: (518) 442-5800 or [email protected]).
• The Middle Earth Peer Assistance program is reaching out to all UAlbany undergraduate students to check in and connect them with resources. Middle Earth students already have reached nearly 6,000 of our students.
• SUNY and the Office of Mental Health (OMH) launched a confidential crisis text line for SUNY students, faculty and staff. (Text Got5U to 741-741 for help with feelings of depression, anxiety, stress or thoughts of suicide. More information is available here).
• UAlbany has designed online training programs to help faculty, staff and students understand the warning signs for distress and risk factors that may lead to suicide, share resources and demonstrate how to talk to students in distress. The course is offered on Blackboard and takes less than one hour. (Email [email protected] for details).
• SUNY and OMH also launched an online training initiative, Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR), to help participants recognize someone who may be in emotional distress or having suicidal thoughts, and how to appropriately engage and connect that person to resources. QPR does not require clinical training, and teaches general skills appropriate in any setting. (Register here and enter “SUNY” as the organizational code).

We’re proud that UAlbany has been a longtime partner of SUNY and OMH and that we had the opportunity to partner with them on what mental health resources SUNY campuses may need, most recently from my involvement in a SUNY-wide task force addressing student mental health and well-being. Services like these are especially important as people are reeling from being in lockdown with their normal lives upended, worrying about health risks and economic concerns, and the stress following the tragic death of George Floyd.

What’s in the works in terms of mental and behavioral health at the University?

We recently received a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which we’ve been using to design the aforementioned trainings for faculty, staff and students. This is our third SAMHSA grant since this federal grant program started in 2004. Under an earlier SAMHSA grant, we developed a face-to-face version of trainings for departments and groups of faculty, staff and students, which will be available when we are on campus physically. Individuals interested in face-to face training should email me.

Additionally, UAlbany is now a JED campus, a designation from the Jed Foundation indicating that we implement a comprehensive suicide prevention and mental health promotion program based on a public health approach. We are among the first cohort of campuses across the nation to receive this designation.

What tips do you have for members of our campus community having a hard time?

It’s important to remember that’s it’s normal to experience psychological distress and a range of emotions during any crisis or period of uncertainty, which we are experiencing now in multiple ways. There are steps we can take to help ourselves during these times:

• Talk to loved ones about worries and concerns, and know that your feelings are normal and others may be experiencing them too.
• Do things that are enjoyable, even when you don’t feel like it. Listen to music, take a walk, spend time appreciating nature or with animals, read a book, practice breathing routines, etc.
• Consider limiting media exposure if it is increasing your distress. While it’s important to be informed, media exposure can increase anxiety and fear in some individuals (while for others, it helps create a sense of control).
• Eat a balanced and nutritious diet.
• Get enough sleep.
• Don’t hesitate to seek professional help. Students should reach out to CAPS and employees should reach out to EAP.

What are you working on now?

In addition to our work in addressing mental health concerns among our students, we are developing and testing new strategies to reduce alcohol and other drug use, with the support of grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports. Our programs include early intervention for the non-medical use of stimulants as well as the development of a Collegiate Recovery Program, called Danes for Recovery.

We’re very excited about a new campus well-being initiative, UAlbany WAY: Well-being and You. This program will take a holistic approach to supporting health and well-being and will reach the entire campus community. I will soon be launching a UAlbany Well-being Collective open to members of the campus community who want to help move our well-being efforts forward. We’ll have more information in the next several months, and people can email me with questions or if they are interested in joining our efforts.

What made you decide to pursue your field?

Since I was in high school, I have been interested in understanding how the mind and emotions work and how to use such knowledge to help others. My experiences as a student at Barnard College, Columbia University and in the doctoral program in Clinical Psychology at UAlbany strengthened my passion. While in my early career I worked with individuals by doing psychotherapy much of the time, I soon realized that to make significant changes in our culture we needed to take a public health approach; that is, in addition to working with clients one at a time, we must address issues and challenges people may experience at the population level as well. In this way, we are not only assisting individuals, but helping to change society by impacting thousands and promoting their health and well-being. Such a public health approach has been essential in addressing the current COVID-19 pandemic, both individually and globally, as well as addressing the health disparities faced by people of color and people experiencing poverty.

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