{"id":70221,"date":"2023-10-09T11:50:28","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T18:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=70221"},"modified":"2023-10-09T11:50:28","modified_gmt":"2023-10-09T18:50:28","slug":"embedded-counselors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/embedded-counselors\/","title":{"rendered":"Meeting students where they are\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

How would your mental health be improved if, instead of going to a counselor, the counselor came to you?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the motivation behind Counseling Services\u2019 system of embedding counselors in places where students live, work and study\u2014places they\u2019re already comfortable in, that feel more like home, that don\u2019t have the barriers sometimes associated with traditional offices. It\u2019s an important step in ensuring that all NAU students, particularly those from vulnerable and marginalized populations, have access to mental health care.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, placing counselors across campus enhances accessibility to services, especially for certain individuals and communities who may not seek out mental health support through traditional means,\u201d said Carl Dindo, director of Counseling Services. \u201cThere has been a growing emphasis on \u2018meeting students where they are,\u2019 particularly since 2020, so finding innovative and culturally responsive solutions to the mental health concerns of NAU students necessitated us looking beyond the traditional model of face-to-face counseling that has existed for a long time.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mental health care has always been tricky. Historically, it\u2019s been stigmatized throughout society, and both research and anecdotal experience offer evidence that certain individuals and communities are even less likely to seek out mental health care for a host of reasons. Offering counselors in familiar spaces won\u2019t remove all of those barriers\u2014but it will remove a big one. And it\u2019s not just the space; often, the counselors who serve students in these spaces may share a cultural background or identity with the students there.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Counselors are embedded in:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n