This week’s chapel featured a mock counseling session to show students not only how to help people in need, but show what a counseling session would look like with Christ at the core.
TRANSCRIPT
0:00
Good morning, Hannah. How are you?
0:03
Morning?
0:04
Well, thank you so much for taking the time to come in and talk with me today. I know you email me, you said, there’s a lot going on. So, you know, just wanted to take some time to kind of talk it out. See, you know what I can do to help. Does that sound okay?
0:21
Yeah. I mean, one of my professors asked me to email you, and they said that, that would be a good idea. So I don’t really know. I don’t know what I’m supposed to tell you about. But I’m just like, super overwhelmed with a lot of work stuff. And there’s like stuff happening with my family. And my friends, and honestly, I just, like, can’t even focus on any of it anymore.
0:46
So there’s a lot on your mind.
0:48
I mean, yeah, you could say that.
0:55
stuff. So Hannah has come in to see me today, you guys. And I am. I’m going to need your help. A little bit today on this does that. That sound All right. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So, you’re going to see some options up here. Let’s go to option number one. Hmm. I’m gonna have my interns in the ioway. Okay. I’ve got two options here that I can I can or questions that I can ask Hannah. If you’re looking at both of these give you guys a chance to read it. What do you think the best next question for me would be to ask Hannah? Show of hands. What about the What do you expect? Who thinks that’s the best question? I see no hands. That’s good. What about the other one? How many you guys? Yeah, yeah. Well, any brave soul want to actually tell me why that would be a better question than the other one. You just raise your hand. And I’ll have one of my interns come and find you. brave soul? No. One brave soul? Oh, I see a hand in the back. In the back.
2:17
It’s a collaboration versus going and having a be an expection.
2:21
Good, good. Okay. Well, let’s, let’s see how this how this turns out. Okay, so you’ve got a lot going on, like multiple things that that you’re trying to deal with? Well, I mean, what do you really expect counseling to be able to do about that?
2:43
Honestly, I don’t even know. I just told you, my professor told me to email you.
2:49
Okay, fair enough. Fair enough. How about would it be? Would it be a better idea for us to just map out some goals together? Since you’ve already you’ve shared that you’re experiencing? You know, there’s a lot of stuff going on? So would it be a better idea for us to maybe map out some goals that we can work on together that hopefully address what’s been going on? Yeah,
3:11
that sounds like okay,
3:12
okay. Well, let’s do that. Let’s do that. So you mentioned work, school, and you said, there’s some things that are going on at home with family, right? What right now is the most pressing, the most pressing thing.
3:26
Honestly, I feel like, if it was just one thing, I’d be able to handle it. But I’m sitting here with like, 18 units, because I’m trying to graduate. And I don’t, you know, I’m paying, I’m paying for school. And so I have to work, but I have to work a certain amount of hours in order to pay for school. And I’m trying to get out of school fast as possible, which is why I’m taking so many units. But then I’m trying to, like help my family at home because I have siblings that need my help. And my parents, like expect me to go home for like certain amount of times during the semester. And I just I can’t handle all the expectations. And I just feel like it’s unfair to ask me to do all of these things when you know, half of the people here get to just be students, and some people don’t have to do and I just no one’s helping me figure out how to balance any of it. And it just is super overwhelming. And I feel like it’s this cycle that just doesn’t stop.
4:18
It’s a lot. Yeah. And how long have you been feeling like this?
4:23
Probably since I started
4:24
school. So it’s been a while. You’ve been struggling with this for a while? Yeah,
4:29
you could say that.
4:30
Okay. Okay.
4:34
Since you’ve been dealing with this for for such a long time, and honestly, I know this is not the first time that we’ve talked before, you know, we’ve had conversations before. So I do want to ask you a couple hard questions before we continue, just so that I can make sure of where you are emotionally, and that you’re just safe in these in these moments too. So it’s a lot. And last time, you know, like I said, you were emotional pretty, like level nine or 10, we talked about. So Have there been any thoughts of like self harm, or suicide, anything like that that has come up since the last time we talked?
5:24
Not, not that I can point to, but it’s at the point where I can understand why people feel like that’s their option. Like, I get that I just feel like every day, I’m looking for a way to just be done with all of the stuff that I have to do. And I can’t even think about, like the end of the week, I am always just trying to get to, like the end of this day, because I feel like all that I can process right now.
5:49
That, well, thank you for first of all for, for sharing that with me. And like I said, my, you know, part of my, my role is not only to help you kind of figure out this thing called life, right. But I also want to make sure that, that you’re safe, not only mentally, but physically, you know, safe as well. So thank you for answering those questions for me. I’m going to step out of this for a moment. Let’s go to option two. We got some choices up here. Some questions that I can ask Hannah, or some things that I could say next. On Wednesday, a lot of you guys asked about specific verbiage that you can use when you’re talking to your friends, or, you know, when you’re trying to have these kind of really tough conversations with people. And so I’ve got a couple of things up here. That couple options that you can say. So show of hands, who thinks a is a is a relatively good option? Okay, I see a couple hands. What about B? I see way more hands. All right. Anybody for See? What about D? I see your hand for D. Okay. Okay. Now, if you said, Let’s go with a, if you said a was a fairly good option, or I’ll just say this, if you said B was a good option, because most of you said B, any brave soul want to say why B would be the better option for this conversation? You can just raise your hand real quick. And my interns will will find you. If not, it’s okay. I understand. I know I’m asking a lot, but it will be real. I like I would like to hear your voices. And it’s really a good opportunity for your peers, for you guys to hear what each other thinks because normally if one of you is thinking it, somebody else is too. So any brave soul. I see a hand right here. Coming up, Joe’s.
8:03
Right. I think it’s kind of like cheering her on, like you’re going through a lot. But you’re like trying to like get help, and you’re trying to do stuff. So you said it’s like pretty courageous for you to like, make the effort to go get help.
8:20
And sometimes we also don’t really know what to say, right? When somebody shares a really difficult or tough situation with us. It’s hard to know what to say. And so being the support system for you, especially for y’all, because y’all aren’t counselors. So we don’t want you to be a counselor, but having something just a nice little blurb to tell them that shows not only that you’re listening, but that you support them in this is really helpful. So let’s see how this plays out. And like I said, you know, I’m so thankful that you took the time to come in and talk with me, thank you for being honest with me about how you’re feeling. I know that you know, right now, there aren’t any self harm or suicidal ideations that are that are going on. But as we’ve talked before, if that changes, you know that there is a 20 473 165 day suicide prevention and crisis line. If you feel the need that you need to talk to somebody, especially if it’s late at night, early in the morning, don’t hesitate to use that number. But I do think on top of that, it is super courageous for you to come in and take the time to talk to me about this. I know you’ve been struggling with it. So I appreciate you coming in and and doing that this morning. So why don’t why don’t we just let’s just keep flowing. Let’s just keep flowing. Last time we talked I feel like we left with a couple action items, did we?
10:07
Honestly, no?
10:08
No? Okay. Okay,
10:10
tell me we talked about stuff that I was supposed to do. But I just don’t really know how I’m supposed to think about those things as I’m overwhelmed. Like, the last thing that I’m thinking about when I’m so frustrated at everything that’s going on is, oh, last time we talked to Megan, she told me that I should count for the next time. Like, I’m not thinking about that. I’m literally just trying to do what I’m supposed to do. So I don’t know. I’ll be honest, I didn’t do any of those things.
10:35
Okay. Okay. So the even though these are things that you agreed would be helpful, right. I mean, we talked, you said they will be helpful. So you were like, Nah, it was just too overwhelming or why, you know, give me a little
10:53
background on that. It’s not like I don’t want to, like I want things to feel less overwhelming. I want things to feel more neutral and normal. But I think some of the things we talked about might have been like too big to process, okay, as I was going through, and so, like, just all these big concept things, like think about what’s coming next, or, you know, those idea concepts that I just wasn’t able to get to. So, like, I’m open to doing it again, I just think I need like smaller, more tangible things to do rather than abstract ideas. Okay,
11:27
so they were a little too big. Yeah. Okay. Okay. last option, guys, let’s put option three up there. These were some of the pieces of some of the questions and what I get commonly from from you guys about what you think you may or may not hear. Okay, so I’ll give you a chance to read them. Some good options up there? How many you guys think a is the best response right now? for HANA? enhance? What about B? I see a couple. Okay, what about See? Oh, all the hands? You guys are good. You guys are good. What about D? No hands for D. Okay. So for those of you that selected C, why do you think C is the best option for HANA right now? Raise your hand and my intern. See, it’s not a scary thing. We’ve had two people respond already. Promise? It’s okay. Go ahead.
12:34
See is like it actually gets somewhere
12:39
gives an answer and something you can go off of kind of a next step. Right? Is the idea of coming and talking to me or talking to a counselor really is so that you have some next steps, right. There’s things that you can work on. And some of these other options, although they might be all right. They tend to push people back inside, right? They push them away from actually being able to continue and open up and talk about whatever it is that that they’re dealing with. So let’s see how this works out. Okay, so I gave you options. You decided I’m not going to do it. Oh, why don’t you just give it to God then?
13:27
Cool. Awesome.
13:29
I will. Thanks for the help.
13:36
Okay, well, let’s rewind, because that doesn’t seem like it’s going to be very helpful for you right now.
13:41
No, I’m not even thinking about my relationship with God right now. Sorry.
13:46
Okay. Okay. Fair enough. Fair enough. So let’s take a step back. What made I know you shared a little bit about, you know, some of the concepts being a little bit too big that we talked about for you to to implement them over this last week? What could we do moving forward that maybe brings this back a little bit and gives you the opportunity to, to really dive into what we’ve talked about?
14:14
Well, I know we talked about, like, breaking things down into smaller chunks last time, right. And so I don’t think I was able to do that because I couldn’t figure out what the next step was supposed to be all the time. And so maybe if we talked about, like, what is that I have to do after I leave your office, then that would be easier if that makes sense. Like I just need help figuring out what my next step is.
14:40
Okay. Okay. Well, then let’s do that. Let’s let’s start there. For right now and then we’ll jump into more next week. Does that sound right? Yeah, I can do that. Okay, so what are if you could give me two or three things that help bring you balance or peace? What are those one or two two things
14:59
probably Like, I don’t know, when people when I don’t have to talk about when I don’t have to, like, explain everything that’s going on to everybody. It’s just really helpful. So sometimes I think about talking to my professors so that, you know, they’ll understand why sometimes they turn things in late, but I just don’t really always know how to have that conversation.
15:20
Okay. Okay. So we need to start first with you being able to open up and have some of these conversations with maybe your professors in school is we’re wrapping up things right now. So there’s some conversations that need to be had. So can I challenge you, when you leave here to at least email your professors and let them know what’s going on? You don’t have to be detailed. Okay. I don’t want you to tell them your life story in each of these emails, right. But I do want you to be able to express at least a piece of what’s going on right now. Would that be a fair? ask of you at this point? Yeah, I can do that. Okay. All right, then let’s start there. Okay. plan, plan.
16:04
Okay.
16:08
All right. I’m not gonna move too far from here. What I wanted to do for you guys today, one of the big questions, two of the big things that I hear from students quite often is that they’re afraid to go to counseling, because they don’t know what it’s going to be like. They don’t know what kind of questions they’re going to be asked. And in that, you many decide not to go. So I wanted to give you just a quick glimpse of what it looks like to go talk to a counselor or really to come talk to me. I’ve said it many times before you guys know that there are resources available for you here. As far as our on campus and off campus counseling. Outside of that we offer resources. With placer. We have partnerships with Placer County, Food Bank, Sierra pregnancy and health, there’s a wide array of community resources that are out there for you. So if for whatever reason, you still don’t feel comfortable to come and talk to me, there is a Care Resource table in student life, right by where the mailboxes are. And I have all the information there. Okay. So if you would rather just go pick something up, grab it, that’s perfectly fine. But it is there for you. Okay. After chapel we have is the last day of wellness week. Yay. We can we can you know, be happy about that. Right? I know. That was like tough stuff. Right now we’re talking about but it’s the end of wellness week. So we have a bunch of fun events planned for you guys out in the plaza, you probably saw it as you were walking in. So please take time to come out there. We have snacks and all that good stuff for you as well. And if you do have any questions, you know, you can always email me at care@jessup.edu Let’s play pray real quick. And then we’ll move into worship. Dear Lord, I just thank you so much for this time and this opportunity this week to really focus in on our mental health and our health and wellness Lord, I know that I know that we struggle throughout the year and just in our lives in general, with really heavy stuff. And sometimes Lord, the things that we struggle with are they’re just too much. And so I just pray that throughout this week, Lord, you have been able to really speak into speaking to our students hearts and their lives into their spirits, Father God, and I just pray that as we move into this Thanksgiving break, that is a time of peace, balance and refreshing. Thank you so much for this Lord and your holy name. Amen.