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Counseling center offers support groups
By Geoff Higgins
The Counseling, Career and Academic Support Center is hoping to find an equation to personal problems that students might feel during the spring school term.
SCSU students that are feeling overwhelmed and alone this semester will have many opportunities to discuss their problems with a variety of support groups offered this semester. The Counseling, Career and Academic Support Center offers a few of the same support groups every semester because of their popularity, but the CCASC is also open to suggestions from students for new support groups as well. This semester there are 10 different support groups which cover many different topics.
Several different support groups have been arranged to cater to the needs of women that attend SCSU. One of the women's support groups is entitled Women United and is offered to African and African American women that desire a discussion group.
According to the CCASC, this group will explore topics including relationships, self-esteem, family, school and any other issues that the group would like to discuss. The main idea behind the Women United group is to empower, share experiences and stories and provide support for each other. This group was designed because the CCASC realizes that black women need a place to share their experiences and be heard, as well. This group will begin Feb. 3 and continue meetings Mondays 12:00- 1:00 p.m.
Another group that is offered exclusively for women this semester is called the Non-Traditional Student Women's Group. This support group is co-sponsored by the Women's Center and has two facilitators that help run discussions.
Group meetings will be 2:00-3:00 p.m. Fridays starting Jan. 31.
According to Maggie Molitor, a facilitator of the group, there are usually any where from five to 12 women that attend each meeting to talk about topics including which classes and professors to take and how to cope with the multiple roles that nontraditional female students face in their every day lives.
According to Molitor, nontraditional students are usually past the age of the average college student and can include a countless number of characteristics.
"A nontraditional student is over the age of 25 and maybe a veteran, married, a parent or a person that has gone back to school after being out of high school for 10 years. A lot of them have other obligations besides school," Molitor said.
The Nontraditional Student Brown Bag Lunch is a support group open to males and females. This group is also unique because it is one of the only groups that is offered by the CCASC that does not require sign-up. This group will meet from 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. and welcomes nontraditional students that would just like to drop in and share their experiences.
Career goals and the difficulties meeting them is a common stress that students have, so this semester the CCASC has set up Career Direction Seminar, a group that is geared toward helping students realize their interests, career options and increase career decision making skills. This support group will only start meeting when there are at least eight people signed up for it. The group will meet 3:00 p.m.- 4:30 p.m. on Mondays.
The only support group that has not been requested by students is a group that was designed by Jayne Lokken who is a psychologist at the CCASC. This group is also a career direction seminar designed the same as the other seminar, but this group is exclusively for American Indian students. This group does not have a specific number of students that are required to join and meets Mondays from 4:30 p.m.- 6:00 p.m. Lokken said that she created this support group because of her special interest and study of American Indians.
The Cultural Transitions Group is a support group that is aimed at helping international students adjust to their move to a new culture. This group meets at noon on Wednesdays. Students do not need to sign up.
There are also support groups offered by the CCASC that deal with and discuss issues that are specialized to common problems that college students deal with. One of these groups is entitled, Eating Disorders/Body Image Group and educates and supports people regarding those issues. Meetings for this group do not begin until March 19. The group will meet 3:00 p.m.- 4:30 p.m. on Wednesdays.
The Depression Management Group helps students develop skills for coping with depression. If enough students sign up, the meetings will be on Thursdays from 12:00 p.m.- 1:30p.m.
The General Therapy Group deals with students who suffer from depression or anxiety. The advantage of this particular group is that the meeting times will be determined by students' schedules.
The Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual, Transgender Support Group has been put back on the support group schedule. The group is scheduled to meet on Fridays from 12 p.m.-1:00 p.m.
According to Lokken, every support group is completely private. Lokken said that every facilitator is required by law to keep the support group discussions confidential. Lokken also said every person that attends a support group meeting is asked to not talk about the support groups outside of meetings.
"The thing about groups is that we ask each of the group members to respect the confidentiality of each other so that they have some motivations to do that because they want their own privacy respected," Lokken said.
Lokken encourages students that are interested in any of the support groups to look into joining, even if they don't have specific problems.
"We (CCASC) don't have a level of severity that the student needs to have to take part in the support group discussions," Lokken said.
For more information contact the Counseling, Career and Academic Support Center at 255-3171 , or visit the office located at 103 Stewart Hall.
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