Listen Here
By Vanessa Crowe
crowev@findlay.edu
The University of Findlay is looking for another counselor to add to its staff at the Bucher Center on Frazer Street.
In the fall semester of 2022, the counseling services met with UF President and the board for further resources in assisting the growing number of students seeking help, accord to Jodi Firsdon, director of counseling services.
“We were actually approved to hire another counselor,” Firsdon said. “So that has been active as a job posting for at least this semester and so we are in active interviewing phase right now. ”
Counseling services has worked to adapt to the changes in society over the last few years, from COVID to inflation to the war in Ukraine.
With the stigma of seeking help resolving, more students are looking to counseling services for help. But there are things that each person can do on their own to deal with stress.
“Individually you can definitely work on some relaxation skills yourself,” Firsdon said. “That may be some deep breathing or just making sure that you are sleeping and eating appropriately, because that can sometimes go out the window when some people start getting stressed.”
Firsdon encourages people to help each other as well.
“If you start to notice that somebody isn’t taking care of themselves maybe they’re not eating lunch with you like they normally would,” Firsdon said. “Or you notice they are not sleeping you can kind of say ‘hey I am noticing this behavior, how are you doing?’ Check in with them.”
The counseling services holds events throughout the semester to spread awareness and help students.
“We will be having yoga that we will be offering coming up in March. And that is something we will have an outside instructor come in,” Firsdon said. “It is a six-week program that will be happening once a week where students will be able to participate for free.”
Also in March counseling services is partnering with Focus: Recovery and Wellness Community to hold a recovery group for college students effected by substance abuse, mental health, and trauma.
In April the counseling services will have a Be Well: Nutrition and Mood event, a Stressbuster, and a prescription drug takeback.
“We also have stress buster events, mini ones each month,” Firsdon said. “We just did one where people got to come in paint, any kind of painting they wanted to do.”
The University of Findlay Counseling Services offers individual, couples, and group counseling. They also offer outreach education.
Appointments can be made two weeks from the date of the request. An appointment can be scheduled by going to the counseling services tab on UF’s website and filling out the “Schedule Appointment” option. Appointments can be up to 50 minutes while Walk-ins are up to 30 minutes.
Walk-in hours are Tuesdays, from 2 to 4 p.m. and 9 to 11:30 a.m.
In the event of an emergency, there are several resources available for students. These can be found here.
Firsdon says they are looking for just the right fit for the additional counselor at Counseling Services.
