The Georgia Tech counseling center
is a service that provides mental health
counseling for students.
In addition to individual counseling,
we provide group counseling, couples counseling,
and consultation.
We also provide assessment and testing
for students, which also includes career testing.
Faculty can be very helpful in providing assistance
to students, in lending a caring and compassionate ear,
but I think one of the things that's important to remember
is not to shrug off any concern that a student might
show to the faculty member.
As faculty members we all realize
that there's an ebb and flow to the semester.
There's the beginning of the semester.
There are midterms.
There's spring break, maybe there are finals.
But stress can occur for many other reasons,
not all related to the classroom.
Normal life, relationships, and the faculty in general
should always be aware of that.
Yes, pay attention at times when you expect it, but always pay
attention because it could become
coming from other sources.
There are ways in which graduate students experience life
on campus very differently from undergraduates.
They have a lot more external pressures
than undergraduates may feel.
The pressure to finish in a timely manner,
financial pressures, the adviser-advisee relationship,
as well as they are more likely to be married and have
children.
So these are some things that as faculty members,
we need to look for.
One of the easiest ways to understand stress
is to think of stress as occurring
in three different levels.
So the first level of stress can be considered
a mild level of stress.
The second level of stress that typically occurs
is more moderate and tends to involve more
noticeable, significant behavior change.
The third level of stress signifies
a much more significant level of distress
that a student can be experiencing.
It is a pretty major change in the way students might behave.
Students seeking mental help may feel
like they are going to be weak, or they
need to take care of problems themselves, when in fact
seeking help-- seeking counseling-- really
is a sign of strength.
Another common myth is that seeking help
is something that only that student has to do,
that everyone else seems to be fine, but I'm not.
It's common that the family or cultural beliefs
will influence how a student sees getting help themselves.
I think it's important to respect those views,
and at the same time, provide accurate information
to help minimize stigma.
An initial consultation is a time
and a place where students can spend an individual session
with one of our counseling staff to go
more in depth about their presenting concerns,
some of their history, and some of the relevant factors
that might impact their presenting issues or concerns.
Counseling is a collaborative process,
which begins with the student expressing their concerns
and talking about what's happening for them
and their experience.
And then, at the same time, the counselor
is listening and working to build
a rapport and a connection with the student,
so that when they provide feedback
there's already a foundation there of mutual trust
and respect, which is very important in the counseling
process.
We work in collaboration with the dean's office
very closely, so that if the dean's office speaks
with a student who's been referred by a faculty member,
the dean's office will refer that student directly to us.
The benefits of the online referral system
are such that we're able to make an early intervention
with a student, and a timely one.
If a faculty member refers a student
at any point in the semester, the goal
is to get the student in within 48 hours
of receiving the referral.
Faculty should never really confront a student,
even in a caring way, in a public place
where the student might feel awkward in terms of a response.
They should never contact their family,
because the office of the dean of students
really takes the lead in doing that.
It's a quiet kind of place of strength on campus
but a very necessary one.
There have been many students who
have shared with me along the way
that if it wasn't for the counseling center,
they would not have made it through Georgia Tech.
The counseling center really provides
help for individual students who are in difficulty,
but it has another role, I think,
which is that it's a symbol that we care.
The very fact that it's here, and that we advertise
its resources, and that other students use it, I think
is an indication to students in need
that they can go there, too.