Students dealing with stress and other crises can visit University Counseling Center

The University Counseling Center is on campus to help students deal with stress and other crises.

There are currently six counselors that work for the University Counseling Center. Two of the staff members are graduate assistants. Each graduate assistant works 20 hours a week and has an equal workload to one staff member.

Adrienne Naquin-Bolton, director of the University Counseling Center, said there is hope to hire more staff members in the future to help decrease wait times for students.

“With the addition of Dr. Clune as president, we were given permission to hire an additional staff person, so that helped with staffing, but the staffing counselor to student ratio is still not quite where we want it to be,” Naquin-Bolton said.

The major issue with hiring a new staff person at the counseling center has to do with lack of space. Naquin-Bolton said she expects to find a resolution for the space issue soon.

According to Naquin-Bolton, the wait time for students to see a counselor is less than it has been in past semesters.  

The counseling center urges students who are in a crisis to come in as soon as they feel they need help.  

“If it’s a crisis, we want you to walk in. Don’t wait. If you are having any thoughts of hurting yourself, if you are in the midst of a panic attack, we want those brought in as soon as possible, and we will find a counselor available,” Naquin-Bolton said.

Students who can wait to make appointments can just call the counseling center.

Naquin-Bolton said she knows that in the past, people have had to wait two or three weeks to see a counselor. To combat this, the counseling center now offers group sessions. Currently, there is a self-esteem group and an LGBTQ+ support group. The groups can take students in right away if the student is comfortable with the group setting.

Naquin-Bolton said she encourages students who have to wait to see a counselor to visit the school’s website. The website has resources that have strategies to help with anxiety.

She also suggests finding podcasts and Ted Talks. The counseling center is creating a living document to refer students to look at when they cannot see a counselor right away. She also recommends finding a support person who they can talk to while they wait.

Naquin-Bolton said she wants students to be aware of the serenity space offered at the counseling center. Students can make an appointment to destress in a full body massage chair. She said it’s an underused resource that will help students deal with stress.