Students can explore wellness and mental health topics through tea, art, meditation and connections with others at the NC State Counseling Center drop-in groups. With no need to sign up or RSVP, these small gatherings provide resources in a casual and supportive environment for those seeking help on campus.

Angel Bowers, the assistant director of outreach at the Counseling Center, describes the four different interactive groups that remain accessible to NC State students. 

“We offer international tea time, which is held on Centennial Campus on Mondays, and this is open to all international and domestic students,” Bowers said. “They serve tea from different cultures, they have discussions about the transition of moving to North Carolina or to the United States from other countries to study, and then there are domestic students there who join in because they’re curious and they’re supportive, and they’re allies for students.”

Mary Njaramba, a counselor at the Counseling Center and International Tea Time organizer, explained more about the international-focused ritual here on campus.

“This is actually a collaboration between us and OIS [the Office of International Services],” Njaramba said. “Yuka [Kato] and I have really been thinking about what we can do to make the adjustment here easier. We designed it in a way where you can incorporate the domestic students and they can learn from each other.” 

Yuka Kato, a counselor at the Counseling Center and additional International Tea Time organizer, described what the group offers to students.

“Meeting students who you usually don’t meet and then learning about each other’s cultures in a safe space, just embracing each other’s culture,” Kato said. “It’s definitely a space to embrace all cultures. In that sense, it’s not just a socialization meeting but for all cultures, and that’s the unique part of International Tea Time.”

According to Njaramba, domestic students can learn from the international students’ experiences especially if they are going to travel abroad. Students at the drop-in groups are also told about counseling resources.

There is also a Wednesday Free Expression Session drop-in group that has become increasingly popular since last semester when it started, in an attempt to provide students with creative outlets for both coping and relaxing.

“These are essentially art therapy sessions, where students can come in and there are many different mediums of art set up for them to use, and they come in and usually the person leading the group, she’s a certified art therapist and she’ll give them a prompt,” Bowers said. “Something related to home or stress or loss or something like that, and they just do what they want to do in that time. They paint, they use sculpture, they do other things. That was so popular last semester that we had to double the size of the room and we’re making the sessions longer.”

Additionally, there is a meditation group that meets every Thursday at the Counseling Center, as well as Wednesdays on Centennial Campus. This group teaches students how to meditate, self-calm, manage their own emotions and focus on their concentration, according to Bowers.

As topics surrounding mental health can be difficult for students to address, and manage, the Counseling Center’s drop-in groups attempt to make the process easier and more comfortable for students.

“I would strongly encourage [students] to consider coming and ask a friend to come with them,” Bowers said. “I think it’s often much easier to try something new when we have at least one other person there with us to do it.”

According to Bowers, students are not required to participate at any certain level when attending a group. While some students may be worried that drop-in groups may be like group therapy, the Bowers says that they are more of an experience. 

“I would definitely encourage students to think about challenging themselves a little bit, think about being vulnerable in that space, and just considering learning a new way of looking at stressors,” Bowers said. 

For more information on the Counseling Center, visit their website: https://counseling.dasa.ncsu.edu/workshops-and-events/drop-in-groups/.