For many college students, the pressure to succeed academically while balancing extracurriculars, work, relationships and family life can feel overwhelming. Assignments pile up, work can get busy and day-to-day life can become just a bit too heavy.
Counselors at SEMO’s Center for Behavioral Health and Accessibility want students to know they are never alone in facing these challenges.
The Center for Behavioral Health and Accessibility, located in Crisp Hall 201-202, is an on-campus resource for students to seek counseling services from a licensed professional.
The center also provides assistance with crisis intervention and provides educational resources to help develop a more accessible academic environment.
According to one of the center’s counselors, Torie Grogan, for new students coming in, when they schedule their first appointment at the center, it will be an initial screening appointment.
“During the first appointment at The Center for Behavioral Health and Accessibility Services, students complete the Stepped-Care Model Screening and Risk Assessment process. During this process, students may be referred to other supportive offices on campus and or counseling services.” Grogan said.
Through this process, the center is able to better evaluate each student’s needs.
“Some students may be expecting to see a counselor at their first appointment,” Grogan said. “So we want to let students know that the first appointment is a screening and risk assessment to assess their needs for support and how our office can best refer them to appropriate resources.”
The Center for Behavioral Health and Accessibility acts as a resource for students whose mental health may be affecting their academic performance.
“When students are experiencing academic challenges related to mental health concerns they are experiencing, we encourage those students most certainly to reach out to us for our counseling support,” Grogan said. “We also offer accessibility services, so students can meet with our accessibility assistant director, whose name is Leanne Stokes.”
Outside of campus, the center also works with mental health resources in our local community to provide students with a pathway to more frequent access to counseling and mental health services.
“Our center is a brief-solution focused counseling center, so that means we have a number of students we serve here on campus within our brief scope of care,” Grogan said. “Community Counseling Center is our local mental health community resource center. So we work very closely with the Community Counseling Center.”
The center is equipped to refer students to other local resources.
“If we identify a need that we are not able to meet here on campus, we do have a full list of partnerships so we can have that ‘warm hand off’ and connect the student to the resource to help them.”
With all of the resources provided on campus as well as in our local community, some may still find it daunting to reach out for help.
Grogan stresses the importance of mental health advocacy and reaching out when help is needed.
“We know not everyone is always going to be able to come into the office space, so we really want to normalize each day having some time for mindfulness,” Grogan said. “We really want to normalize coming in for support, doing our screening process, or connecting with our counselling clinic here on campus and accessing care early so we can be as helpful as possible, as early as possible.”
If you or anyone you know is ever in need of immediate mental health assistance, call, text, or chat to the number 988 for free 24/7 confidential crisis and mental health support.
