Students here at the University of Massachusetts Boston face more struggles outside of school than some may think. From not having enough money to buy food for themselves, to not living at home with any parents, or experiencing severe family issues at home. This leaves thousands of kids facing these struggles every day. Maybe it’s the girl sitting next to you in your math class, or the boy you see on the train every morning. It’s important to note that these struggles are not easily visible but can be extremely detrimental to one’s academic journey. You never know what someone else is going through outside of school. That’s why it is so important to know that UMass Boston offers several services to help students facing these everyday non-academic struggles.
One of the many non-academic services that the university offers is the University Health Services Counseling Center. The Counseling Center was created to ensure that students at UMass Boston have good mental support, so that outside issues do not interfere with their school work and their overall goal of obtaining a college education. The Counseling Center typically serves 1,000+ students. University Health Services Counseling Center provides services such as individual or group therapy, meetings with a consulting psychiatrist or nurse practitioner for medication, and referrals to a mental health provider. All of these services help assist students who are struggling with anxiety, depression and suicidality, adjustment to college, relationship concerns, academic concerns, and substance use/abuse. Besides individual counseling, the counseling center also offers several group events that run every week, such as Circle Time Mediation, Koru, Bystander Intervention, Drinking in College, and many more. All of their events run every week at a specific location and time that can be found on the UMass Boston website. Any UMass student is welcome to individual counseling or group events at no cost through the Counseling Center here at the university.
Acknowledging that you need help with something is the best thing your mind and body can do. Everyone faces non-academic struggles, it could be commuting to school, family problems, depression, anxiety, etc. Choosing not to properly address these issues is when these problems could impact a student’s academic life in a major way. It could result in a domino effect: It could begin with personal life problems, which could then lead to arriving late to school every day and, as a result, missing classes; then your attendance will be in jeopardy and, in addition, lacking the material while your grades are decreasing. Making the beneficial decision to address the issues could be the first step and making an appointment with the counseling center could be the next. In addition to this, finding other options that could help are also worth a try. When you address a problem and you know that it’s impacting your life, the next best thing you can try is finding a solution; counseling could be that solution. Counseling could help solve student’s non-academic problems and this would be beneficial for them because if the student’s problems are solved then they are able to focus more on their academics and overall their mental health and their well-being are stronger.
Signing up for counseling shouldn’t make anyone feel scared, instead you should be proud that you’re choosing to address the issue and seeking professional assistance. If you don’t solve a problem when it starts it could lead to it becoming harder and most of the time when it’s harder, it’s also harder for students to find someone to talk to. It’s important for students to know that there is always someone that they can talk to, and counseling is a great option.
University Health Services Counseling Center
Quinn Administration Building – Second floor, 02-07 617-287-5690
HOURS: Monday to Wednesday 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
University Health Services Counseling Center
By Rosie Brewer & Stiven Valenzuela
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November 29, 2018