"Higher Edge" Spotlight - Beth Perlman, Grinnell College

Meet Beth Perlman, Clinical Director of Student Health and Wellness at Grinnell College .

1. Please describe your role on campus

I am a licensed Psychologist and Clinical Director at Grinnell College’s Student Health and Wellness Center, overseeing clinical operations, including mental health services and other administrative functions. I provide supervision to staff, working closely with campus and community partners. As a therapist, I view myself as a generalist, but I have clinical areas of interest in grief/loss, self-compassion, suicide prevention, trauma, intersectionality, and relational concerns.

2. How do you lead and interface with mental health and well-being on your campus?

I take a campus-wide, multidisciplinary approach to mental health. This involves consulting and collaborating with campus partners, families, and providers about student and community wellness. At Grinnell, I am fortunate to collaborate with knowledgeable and caring professionals. I provide transition care support for students returning to campus from hospitalization or from medical leave of absence, due to mental health reasons. Students and I work together to develop individualized care plans to prioritize needs, identify a path forward, cultivate hope and self-compassion, and facilitate connection.

3. Would you share a story where you were concerned about something or someone, and the steps you took that either helped and/or left you perhaps considering how you would do it differently next time?

Prior to Grinnell, I was a Crisis and Care Manager at another university. I worked with students experiencing various, urgent mental health concerns. I found that crisis can provide students opportunity to reflect on their needs/boundaries, and, when safety has been established, creatively look for opportunities for change. One student I worked with was returning to campus after hospitalization and a structured treatment program. When she returned, she again started to experience increased suicidal and self-harm thoughts, but was proactive in seeking support and treatment. After safety planning, we developed a plan that allowed her to stay on campus. This approach included a reduced course load, individual therapy, medication management, skills group, process group, and periodic meetings with campus supports. By leaning into community and support networks, this student explored heavy emotions and difficult thoughts with compassion and curiosity and developed an improved sense of agency, increased self-efficacy, and feelings of self-acceptance.

4. Could you tell us about one high point and one low point in your work?

High Point: I find students to be exciting to work with and I enjoy watching growth and change that occurs during a student’s years at Grinnell. It is an honor to witness students carve their paths toward healing, self-empowerment, and generative change. Former clients reach out to share their continuing journey beyond their college years. These notes always make my day and fill me with gratitude.

Low Point: A low point is that the high demand for mental health services, when coupled with the inadequate healthcare system in the US, negatively impacts both therapists and clients. Decreased funding for mental health programs deters people from seeking preventative, necessary support and also exacerbates mental health stigma. In Iowa, it is hard for students to access important, life-changing services. Many therapists are experiencing widespread frustration and burnout due to these unrealistic demands.

5. Is there something which you would like to normalize for others, where they may think they cannot share it?

All of us play a critical role in suicide prevention. One barrier to suicide prevention is an understandable discomfort or fear around initiating conversations about suicide. These emotions are valid, but research shows that open discussions about mental health and suicidal feelings increases feelings of connection and hope. Many people communicate their thoughts of suicide for the first time to a trusted person in their life. Campus counseling centers offer trainings to increase understanding of warning signs of suicide risk and build confidence in initiating conversations. See if your campus offers mental health training workshops such as Question, Persuade and Refer (QPR) and Mental Health First Aid. Campus partners, support staff, and faculty can request a workshop for their department from the counseling center.