*Correction: This story initially included the line “Lisa Zapata, who joined the CC staff at the same time as Osburn…” which is true but misleading as she was not a member of the “staff” but rather in an executive position. The full context of the quote is that Zapata said she became involved with the Counseling Center in 2012 as vice provost of Student Development, Health and Wellness in the Division of Academic and Student Affairs around the same time that Monica Osburn was hired as director of the CC. The explanation of Zapata’s connection to the CC was omitted in the course of editing. The article has been edited to reflect these changes.

Life as a student is challenging no matter your background, and the struggles of preparing for adult life both socially and professionally are universal; but for students in marginalized communities, these issues are compounded by the lack of representation that they have in American society. 

 NC State’s Counseling Center is one place where these issues come to light. Over the past four years, the CC has made significant efforts to reach out to students from all walks of life, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, race or nationality, to combat the stigma often associated with mental health issues. 

 When Monica Osburn was hired as director of the Counseling Center in 2012, she saw a need for more community engagement. Prior to 2012, the CC had only hired two new clinicians in the previous twenty years. 

 “We were very behind,” Osburn said. “There wasn’t a formal relationship between the Counseling Center and underrepresented communities on campus.”

 Lisa Zapata, who was hired as vice provost of Student Development, Health and Wellness around the same time Osburn was hired as director of the CC, said that there weren’t enough clinicians to meet the needs of the student body. Since then, the CC incrementally expanded its reach across campus thanks to support from Student Government and the administration as a whole, which provided the CC with the funding from student fees, state money and grants to increase the clinical staff from 18 to 27. 

 These resources were allocated to the most glaring needs based on the demographics on campus. This began with the GLBT Center in 2013, followed by the Office of International Services and Multicultural Student Affairs this past year, and now the African American Cultural Center which will be the focus this summer and leading into next Fall, according to Osburn. 

 The governing principle is one of “meeting students where they are” by providing drop-in hours and other services within organizations on campus where students are already filtering through and building support systems.  

 “We can’t be all things to all people at all times, we’re never going to be able to cover it all,“ Osburn said. “We want to make sure we’re reaching out where we can and making those connections. I don’t ever want to say that we’re done because who knows what tomorrow’s needs are going to bring.” 

 The Center for Disease Control released data last month which showed that suicide rates have reached a 30-year high. The data showed dramatic increases in nearly every age group and demographic with the exception of black men and people over 75 years old. 

 Osburn said this data has to be taken seriously as a sign that people are suffering across the board. 

 “We need to look at that data. We see the trends and that’s why we do so much suicide prevention,” Osburn said. “That kind of information drives where we need to make sure we keep our focus. The same thing goes with cultural competency, when we see all of these deaths occurring related to racial tension, discrimination, we need to make sure that we’re helping students.”

 The CC uses demographic research to judge whether it is reaching underrepresented populations, according to Osburn. 

 “We want to make sure that all students feel welcome coming to the Counseling Center,” Osburn said. “And one of the checkpoints we have is looking at our own demographics of who comes to the center and make sure that it’s representative to the percent that those students exist on campus.” 

The CC’s data for this past school year shows that black, Asian, multiracial, white and Native American students are represented in greater numbers than they are in the broader campus population, while Latinx and international students are in a deficit in terms of representation in the CC’s patrons. 

 Zapata said that she was encouraged by the improvement in certain demographics.

“It’s so very important to us that we are reaching all students so that’s why we are focusing on getting out of the counseling center and into where the students are,” Zapata said.

Despite these positive numbers, the Counseling Center still carries a stigma that keeps students from seeking counseling, even when they need it. 

 “Just as there’s a stigma to come into the GLBT Center there’s also a stigma to walk into an office that says ‘counseling’ so we try to break down those stigmas and barriers,” said Natalie Nguyen, assistant director of the GLBT Center.

 By providing drop-in hours, the CC is attempting to shorten the distance between the center and those it treats. 

 “[Drop-in hours are] really helpful and it makes it easier for students to want to go to counseling services if they have already met [a counselor] in passing in a little bit more of a casual setting,” Nguyen said. 

 Counselors are put on a schedule and rotate into spaces within student organizations where students can get to know them casually or set up a time when they can meet privately. 

 Beyond building the courage to walk through the door, students often have a lingering doubt as to whether the CC will be able to help, according to Renee Wells, director of the GLBT Center. 

 “There’s often a concern among GLBT students that counseling staff may not be open to or accepting of different gender identities or have the experience to support those students,” Wells said. “Drop-in hours are a way to signal that the staff is open to serving GLBT students. It increases the comfort level.”

 Nguyen said that the CC is attentive to the needs of GLBT students, providing support when House Bill 2, which prevented transgender people from using the bathroom of the gender they identify with, was passed. 

 “When HB2 was passed, the Friday before Easter, we had a meeting and there were some counselors on hand to talk about the emotional impact and the mental health concerns,” Nguyen said. “They were readily available and one counselor even offered to stay after five if anyone else still needed to decompress.” 

 Last year was the first year that Multicultural Student Affairs, which puts an emphasis on serving African-American, Native American and Hispanic/Latinx students, had drop-in hours. Though the CC provides the same service to these groups, the approach is not uniform, according to Osburn. 

 “The MSA model is similar to the GLBT Center model in terms of structure depending on how students approach it.” Osburn said. “We’re not trying to dictate what works best for the center. It’s not about us and what our values are it’s about who we’re working with and if we don’t know about a culture then we need to learn and we need to make sure that we’re providing an environment that is supportive.” 

 The Office of International Services, which serves students from foreign countries who are seeking degrees as opposed to studying abroad for a semester, presents a different challenge in that international students often have both a cultural and language barrier when considering counseling, according to Osburn. 

 “We know that international students think about mental health differently,” Osburn said. “They may not have access to mental health services in their home country so we have to do a lot more to address the stigma with that group and we’ve been very intentional about that.” 

 The CC made their first attempt to partner with OIS in their space in Daniels Hall last August with the creation of the Cultural Crossroads program. 

 “Instead of having Counseling be the face of it, it’s more of talking about important but potentially high anxiety topics and then having OIS and somebody from the Counseling Center actually in these conversations,” said Thomas Greene, associate director for OIS. “Sometimes it will be a nice, friendly, easy conversation but sometimes it illicit other things.” 

 Providing drop-in hours for the African American Cultural Center, located on the third floor of Witherspoon Student Center, has not been a high priority because of the amount of black students that sought counseling relative to their population on campus. However, this doesn’t mean that the need for counseling wasn’t there. 

 The AACC hired Donna Battle, a doctoral student and friend of the cultural center, as a counseling intern to provide similar services to a drop-in counselor, though not directly supervised by the CC. 

 Graham said that, as a faculty member in higher education for more than 30 years, she has heard complaints from students about convenience that keeps them from going in for counseling, but once they do make the time to go, whether they will be understood on a personal level is another barrier. 

 “No student has come to me and said ‘I’m not going to the counseling center because I don’t think there are people over there who look like me,’” Graham said. “But I’ve certainly had experiences where students have said ‘I’m not sure I want to go to the counseling center’ or ‘can you direct me to a specific counselor?’ or ‘can you find someone for me in the community?’”

 Two black students that took advantage of Battle’s presence in the AACC were Michael Wright, a sophomore studying graphic design, and Destinie Statum, a senior studying social work and Africana studies. 

 Both were reluctant at first, citing uneasiness with the idea of “needing help” but having trusted elders encourage them to talk with Battle, also black, made it less daunting. 

 “I know that she helped me understand myself better by kind of leading me to think about things that I don’t usually think of whether I suppress them or whether I just didn’t really think about it,” Wright said. 

 Statum agreed, saying, “It’s helped me this last year just getting through classes and being overwhelmed, having someone who understands a lot of what goes on in my life and seeing my reflection as well that was a big thing for me.” 

 Both students were surprised by the positive experience with Battle, citing a personal connection with her. 

 Battle said that in order for people to learn about themselves, they need an accurate history of their community and people in that community with similar experiences who have achieved. 

 “I think for people of color specifically in this country that’s not always readily available, people who look like us who have achieved or done certain things who have also experienced the same things we have.” Battle said. “I would say that’s significant for any human group, it’s just highlighted in many ways for people of color because it’s not always something that’s readily available for us. In that way I would say that yeah, I may represent that for some students here because we have shared experiences.”