If a student has ever felt like talking to someone about personal or academic issues, Sinclair Community College offers both academic and personal counseling.
“On the academic side, the things that we cover are students who have challenges with their study habits, test anxiety, concentration, motivation, time management, so we work with them specifically on those … giving them tips or feedback on figuring out how to resolve those barriers and how to be successful,” Eric Henderson, a counselor at Sinclair said.
The counselors try to be available and cover many issues that students may be having.
“On the personal-emotional side of things, we work with students on a variety of different things,” he said. “Students who are feeling anxious, stressed, depressed, relationship issues, grief loss, self-esteem, anger — we try to cover and be available to whatever the student needs as much as possible.”
While the counselors don’t diagnose students, they do have a community referral base which they use to connect students with other resources.
“We do have an extensive community referral base that we can link students to … and then we stay linked with the student until they’ve gotten connected with that other resource,” he said.
The counseling that a student receives is also confidential.
“The counselors here are very respectful with students’ privacy, so even if you run into that counselor somewhere else around campus, they’re going to leave you your anonymity. If the student approached the counselor and talked to them, by all means,” Teresa Parker, manager of the center said.
She said information is not shared with family members or instructors.
“If someone is at risk of harming themselves or someone else, that’s always the caveat where no one can make a promise like that,” Parker said.
Henderson also said it comes down to safety for breaking confidentiality.
“When it comes to safety, we may have to break confidentiality but only with regards to that situation of harm. We’re not going to go into everything else we’ve talked about in that moment or situation, it’s just focused on safety and making sure that person or those people are safe,” Henderson said.
For students who consider getting counseling, Henderson would recommend giving it a chance.
“I would say come — we offer a wide array, even if it’s just a question that they’re not sure they know the answer to … even the smallest of questions to the biggest situations in life, we try to cover it all. I would definitely recommend coming in even if they think it’s not that important, because it’s in their head [that] there’s something there, that’s probably important and we can help them out with that,” he said.
Parker said students should not be afraid to get counseling, they are not going to judge, and have heard many different issues.
“There’s nothing we haven’t heard, so if there’s fear behind whatever it is that they need help with, we’ve heard it all and they’re not going to get judged. [It’s] a very open and supporting environment here,” she said.
The office hours are Monday through Thursday 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a crisis walk-in hour at 3 p.m.
The crisis walk-in hour is for students who need to see a counselor, but have not made an appointment.
“If someone comes in and they’re upset and we’re just not available because we’re already in other appointments, there’s a time designated each day that they can come and meet with a counselor and that’s 3 p.m.,” Henderson said.
To make an appointment for counseling, students can call 937-512-3032. For academic counseling, call 937-512-3700. Appointments can also be made by coming to the office which is located in Building 10, Room 424.