McGill’s Mental Health and Counselling Services face a twofold challenge: Make mental health care efficient and accessible to all students, while ensuring that care is appropriate to each student’s specific needs. Given limited resources, it is not an easy balance to strike. But it is, fundamentally, a balance—not an either-or situation. The Sept. 20 announcement that McGill has cut its dedicated Eating Disorder Program (EDP) flies in the face of this wisdom. The abrupt rollback of the program and after-the-fact informing of affected students is not just a case of sloppy communication. More alarmingly, it reflects a flawed assessment of the unique nature and risks of eating disorders, and the needs of students living with them.

When it comes to eating disorders, students are at special risk. The transitory, high-stress rollercoaster that is university life—and first year in particular—can frequently trigger or exacerbate disordered eating. Like all mental health challenges, eating disorders vary widely in severity and symptoms. More uniquely, however, they often lack the clear cognitive or functional correlates frequently used to flag prevalent mood disorders, like depression and anxiety—especially in the context of the already semi-dysfunctional norms of student life. Eating disorders can be deadly, yet too often, they go unnoticed.

McGill's EDP had been available to students since 2009, providing individual therapy, nutritional counselling, and group therapy sessions. Despite the chronic understaffing of McGill’s health services, a patient of the EDP has previously praised the program for its multidisciplinary, tailored approach to each student’s needs.

Things look different now. Even prior to last week’s announcement, staffing had been continuously reduced: A coordinator position was already cut previously, and the program’s single nurse resigned this year, and hasn’t been replaced. The EDP’s psychotherapist is being moved elsewhere in mental health services, and the dedicated nutritionist will now be servicing all students—not just those with eating disorders. For the time being, group therapy sessions have been cut altogether. Diagnosed students seeking treatment will now be funneled through the school’s general Psychiatric Services, with the possibility of being referred to off-campus, specialized clinics.