All students are at risk of being overwhelmed while balancing college and life; That is why counselors are available to all students at SFCC.
A big part of being a college student is deadlines and due dates. Students must often balance those with family matters and jobs. Then there is the fact that they must be able to pay for tuition and books. If that wasn’t enough, there is also the uncertainty and stress of what life can bring tomorrow. It shouldn’t be surprising that the top concern for college students is anxiety.
According to the article “Contemporary College Student Anxiety: The Role of Academic Distress, Financial Stress, and Support,” 84.3% of students reported feeling overwhelmed, 79.1% felt exhausted, and 51.3% reported having experienced overwhelming anxiety while in school. This is a problem because while some amounts of anxiety can help drive academic performance, too much anxiety will bring attrition and lowered academic performance.
“We’re all struggling, we all need help, we all need support,” said licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) Tyler Ham. “And sometimes it is counseling, but other times it’s just a quick check in with your advisor, but we all need help navigating this.”
Counselors at SFCC don’t just help with anxiety. They can help address a whole host of concerns such as substance abuse, feelings of depression, couples or family therapy, anger or stress management, grief and loss, and more. A complete list is provided in the counseling section of SFCC website, under mental health.
When should a student consider talking with a counselor?
“Now,” said Ham. “We all need help to navigate life, and this is a resource available to students, free, already on campus. It’s a great thing to take advantage of. I wouldn’t wait until it’s a crisis response like, ‘Oh no! I’m really stressed out! I need help!’ I would do it as part of our overall wellness and self care.”
There is no extra cost for students seeking help because it comes from the students’ tuition. All a student has to do is reach out to the counseling department to schedule an appointment. There, students will find LMHCs and mental health interns. Interns are graduate students getting degrees in fields such as mental health counseling and marriage and family counseling.These same resources can also be found at SCC for students who may not live close enough to SFCC.
“I provide mental health counseling services to students at SCC and some students at SFCC,” said mental health intern Michele Coria. “Typically if they’re attending classes virtually and they live further away.”
While there is no cost, there is a limit to how often a student can visit with a counselor. Each student is limited to 10 to 13 visits. That’s because it is meant to be temporary. During that time, counselors hope to connect students with other community resources.
If one on one counseling is not appealing or seems unnecessary, counselors and interns also run different support groups for students. Ham runs a group that provides a safe space for struggling students to support each other, and the interns run an anxiety support group.
According to the before mentioned article, support from peers who understand the concerns of balancing college and life has been shown to be extremely helpful to those experiencing it.
“Usually, students struggle because of outside stuff, life stuff. So we want to be able to provide those resources for them to get into the support they need because overall wellness will help for academic success.”