As a resident advisor at GW, I have received extensive training that has shown me how many resources our university has to offer us.
One resource that I kept hearing about was my GW's Mental Health Services (MHS). As a person who believes so strongly that mental health is extremely important, I consistently told my friends and residents how great MHS is.
The truth, however, was that I had never been to a session myself. This past week I finally decided that it was worth a trip. Besides wanting to go so that I could give more information to my friends and residents, there were definitely some things that I needed to work through. I consider myself to be a happy person. But happy or unhappy, we all have brains, and brains have a mind of their own.
Though I have never been diagnosed with a mental illness, I definitely go through ups and downs yearly, monthly, weekly, and even daily. I am emotional, arguably over-superstitious, spend too much time in my head, and sometimes struggle with how to navigate the world I am in.
I am also a serial planner and over-thinker so prior to visiting the office, I went to the MHS website for information before I made any moves. I noticed that walk in hours for individual counseling sessions were every weekday from 9am-3pm. I then called the MHS office to make sure I would know exactly where to go and what to do. It is so easy. You go to the Colonial Health Center in the Marvin Center and speak to a representative at the desk. Then you just fill out a quick set of forms on an iPad.
The first handful of individual sessions are 100% free of charge, and they even have counselors who are able to cater to various populations such as LGBT students, multicultural students, veterans, and others. And once you go to an individual session, you can be referred to a relevant group session, all of which are free.
It is ironic that the first five minutes of my session were spent by my counselor telling me that everything I was saying was confidential and now I am voluntarily publishing it on the internet, but here we go.
I don't think it is necessary to discuss the actual subject matter of what I talked about with my counselor, but the things that she told me were incredibly helpful. I learned that:
1. I am not good at standing up for myself because I am scared to hurt people's feelings, to embarrass myself by either crying or just being wrong, and I want to please others.
2. My identity is centered around being independent, but I let people make decisions for me, both consciously and subconsciously.
3. I tend to bottle up emotions because though my family and friends are lovely to talk to, sometimes I feel that they are too biased and they don't see the bigger picture. I also would rather deal with things myself rather than upset others.
All of these things I pretty much knew about to an extent, but I hadn't considered them as central to my identity. I really see myself as a strong and independent woman. My counselor challenged me and said, "Should a strong woman be afraid to speak her mind and stand up to people?" This was the moment where she really broke through to me.
Why don't I stand up for myself, and for others, in real life and not just passive-aggressively on Facebook through political posts? This one 30 minute session, during which I cried my eyes out (those who know me know I do that often) and blabbered on and on about a million topics completely opened up my worldview.
But this article is really not about me. I am writing this because I do not think mental health should have the stigma it does. Just like you go to the doctor for a cold, when you are emotionally, spiritually, or mentally unwell, it may help to see a professional. Just like with a cold, if you try to deal with issues on your own, they may fix themselves or go away, but they also may not.
Why risk it? I strongly recommend that everybody pays a visit to MHS at least for an initial consultation and allow themselves to explore. (Also, your counselor is required to listen to you and give you attention so honestly take advantage.) Mental health is too important to be ignored, individually and by society.
I went to see a counselor and I am proud that I took initiative for dealing with my problems. I am proud that I am able to speak about it openly and hopefully inspire others to give it a shot. Let's stop hiding. There is no shame in needing help or seeking help, only strength.
