Major Initiatives

The Counseling Center continued to expand and strengthen our efforts to collaborate with our campus partners (including OIED campus centers) and other partners like TRIO, IEP, and OIS. Walk-in services are offered at the OIED campus centers (African American Cultural Center, GLBT Center, Military and Veteran Services, Multicultural Student Affairs, Women’s Center) with the purpose of increasing access to our services by groups that have historically been less likely to use the Counseling Center. The Counseling Center made 5,209 students contacts at Campus Centers as part of outreach efforts.

Mental Health Ambassadors trained by the Counseling Center presented and participated in 109 programs this year. This marked a 58 percent increase in programming from last year. MHA programs included continued partnerships with the African American Cultural Center, Multicultural Student Affairs, Wellness and Recreation, and new partnerships with the Graduate School and Prevention Services.

Associate Director, Richard Tyler-Walker is the current president of the American College Counseling Association. Part of his role this year included organizing the ACCA conference in Washington DC which drew 375 attendees and serves as the principal organization to promote and develop the field of College Counseling.

The American College Counseling Association named Yuka Kato as the Counselor of the Year. The prestigious national award celebrates her as a college counselor that has made a significant impact on a national, state, or local level. Her creative work to better support the international student population was highlighted.

Monica Osburn authored a chapter in the book “Online & Engaged” published by NASPA (2020). The chapter’s title was Mental Health Services for Online Learners.

The Counseling Center was awarded the Advocacy for College Counseling Award at the American College Counseling Association’s National Conference. The award was specifically honoring the outreach efforts and the videos created in the #StoptheStigma campaign.

The Counseling Center in partnership with Prevention Services hired Mary Chamblee as marketing and communications specialist in January 2020. The impact was immediate just as the utility of meeting students through digital platforms has never been more important. The Counseling Center website at counseling.dasa.ncsu.edu received 224,561 page views (increase of 20%) from 82,627 unique users (increase of 23%). Social Media outreach expanded this year with a focus on information, intervention, and inspiration for students. Our current social media platforms include Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and seek to connect and unite our campus community around events and stigma reduction. During the last year, Counseling Center Facebook page “likes” increased to 1317 likes (13% increase), Twitter followers increased to 751 followers (48% increase), and Instagram followers increased to 1300 (224% increase). The Center’s social media outlets posted information weekly with notable campaigns including the “Mental Health Ambassador Monday,” “Wellness Wednesday,” and focus on in-house groups and outreach programming.

The Counseling Center received a diversity mini-grant focusing on international students in 2018. This was used to create a video aimed at addressing the needs of the international student population. The INSPIRE video was completed this year and launched in the Fall of 2019. The focus of this video is to help connect international students transitioning to the US and seek mental health services if needed.

The Counseling Center has been working with nationally renowned trainer and consultant Kathy Obear to support racial equity and justice efforts. She was invited to campus on March 4th for a training on “Disrupting Racist Dynamics and Internalized Dominance.” Since then, the Counseling Center has created working groups to continue this work in ways that support staff and student well-being.

The Counseling Center continues to prioritize workshops as an effective and efficient approach to meeting the needs of students. Six groups (Anxiety Toolbox, Getting Unstuck, Group Biofeedback, Mindful Living, Relationships 102, and RIO) target the most common presenting concerns for students. In all 681 unique students participated in the 314 workshop sessions that were provided by the Counseling Center. By providing psychoeducation to students instead of automatically assigning students to a therapist, crucial resources were conserved and students have a wider range of potential interventions to better address their concerns.

NC State Counseling Center continues its commitment to mental health professions in our efforts to provide high quality training opportunities to emerging professionals. The training program this year included 4 Doctoral Psychology Interns, 6 Post-Masters Fellows, 6 Masters Interns, and 4 Practicum Trainees. The Counseling Center collaborated with Counselors Education and Social Work programs at NC state as well as doctoral psychology programs around the country to ensure quality training experiences. These trainees are provided high caliber supervision by Counseling Center staff as they build their skills in the profession, and the Counseling Center benefits in many ways including additional clinical resources for students. Trainees provided assessment and clinical services to 3,168 students in 2019-2020.

The Counseling Center provided 705 hours of continuing education credits to staff, as well as counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers in the local therapeutic community. The Continuing Education Committee invited workshops specifically focused on multicultural issues while continuing to incorporate multicultural principles in all of the training offered in 2019-2020.