Counseling Center now located in Clark Hall
BY: CHARLIE HUMPHREY
Staff Writer
The Counseling Center at Meramec moved locations on Aug. 13 and narrowed services down to mental health-related assistance rather than focusing on educational aspects, according to Donna Zumwinkel, licensed professional counselor. The counseling center is now located in Clark Hall room AD 249.
“Our counseling services are free and confidential. We’re licensed professional counselors,” said Zumwinkel. “Our goal is to help students overcome any kind of barrier that might be standing in their way of success at school.”
According to Zumwinkel, the Counseling Center works to help students overcome problems that can prevent academic and personal success. The department moved because its focus shifted from educational values to emphasizing mental health, and the privacy needed to adhere to that separation, said Zumwinkel
“We have separated from that function because our focus now is strictly on personal counseling, mental health counseling, and crisis type of counseling. Previously, we used to do things like career counseling or working with students who are on academic probation,” said Zumwinkel. “And this center having a separate location does offer more privacy for students and that’s been a real plus.”
Counselors are available to help students with ongoing crises, but does not operate as a facility for long-term therapy, said Zumwinkel.
“If a student has problems that are beyond the scope of what we can do here, we do refer them to resources in the community, but a student can come back for multiple visits here,” said Zumwinkel. “For example, sometimes we’ll work with a student throughout a semester if they’ve had some particular crisis in their life, or something that’s an ongoing situation for them, and we will work with them out on an ongoing basis, but not long-term therapy.”
Zumwinkel advises students to take advantage of the resources available at Meramec. “This campus is probably the last place in your life that you’re ever gonna get this much free help, so take advantage of it. Whether that’d be counseling services, or whether that’d be other services that are available on campus. Don’t be afraid to ask for help because everyone who works here wants to see you succeed, and we can help in that and help students achieve that goal.”
Photo By Syed Ali
