Dear Dr. Claytie Davis III, Ph.D., ABPP & Dr. Peter Cornish, Ph.D.,

We, the mental health care professionals of Student Mental Health, are deeply dedicated to supporting UC Berkeley students’ well-being, mental health, and academic success. We write to you today not only to reaffirm our dedication but also to urgently address critical issues that threaten the quality and sustainability of the care we provide.

We wish to highlight an escalating crisis within our ranks: significant and worsening pay disparities among our mental health care staff. That issue is not merely a matter of financial equity; it is a profound driver of staff turnover, which, in turn, severely undermines the mental health services that our students rely upon. Sustainability and quality of care are essential for effective mental health treatment. Yet, our current environment of overburdened staff due to low retention levels forces students to repeatedly rebuild trust in our services and engage with new and/or overworked clinicians, many of whom do not yet have sufficient knowledge of the campus community and available resources. For students, this can be an exhausting and often discouraging process that can significantly impede their mental and emotional recovery.

The repeated loss of familiar and trusted clinicians does not just disrupt therapeutic relationships; it also erodes the overall trust in our mental health services by students and the campus community as a whole. This erosion of trust can lead to disengagement from services, avoidance of help-seeking, and worsening mental health outcomes, all of which ultimately negatively impact the student community at the university.

Therefore, we urgently request an internal review to address these pay disparities. Ensuring pay equity is a crucial step towards stabilizing our workforce, enhancing the consistency and quality of care, and restoring trust among the student body and campus community. We are confident that with your advocacy, we can swiftly implement solutions to foster a healthier, more sustainable, and equitable workplace.

We respectfully request a formal written response by [Insert Date] outlining the steps to address these concerns. Please let us know how we can assist in the process. Thank you for your attention to this critical issue and for your ongoing support.