Ouachita’s Counseling Services recently welcomed a new graduate intern. Carla Robinson, a former OBU staff member, will serve as a graduate intern for Counseling Services while she pursues a master’s degree in clinical mental health from Henderson State University.
As a graduate intern, Robinson will be available for individual appointments and will also co-lead (alongside Courtney Clark) a support group for students combating anxiety. Robinson will also be available for individual appointments in the counseling office.
The anxiety support group aims to help students learn to cope with a broad range of anxieties, including general anxiety, test anxiety and social anxiety.
“We’ll be talking about how anxiety is necessary in our lives for emergency issues, but when there’s issues that are not emergencies, how to find methods to redirect those thoughts to proper thinking, as well as finding special skills for each individual to deal with anxiety,” Robinson said.
The group will be open to students of all classifications and majors, both male and female. Though many students are reluctant to come forward in their struggles with anxiety due to the stigma attached to it, the group promises confidentiality and reduced anxiety.
“The challenge can be that people feel a great reluctance in coming forward. They think there’s something wrong with them…there’s a great discomfort that some kind of stigma will be applied,” said Dan Jarboe, university counselor at Ouachita. “What they don’t remember is that everyone else in the room has the same apprehension of what others might be thinking of them, and that they are highly committed to protecting each other’s privacy.”
“Everything is held confidential. We each want our own confidentiality, our own secrets kept close,” Robinson said.
In previous support groups, participating students have been able to find community and have often formed relationships outside of the time spent in the groups. Jarboe said the camaraderie found in the groups helps alleviate stress and move toward overcoming the participant’s struggles.
“As human beings, the healthiest thing we do in coping with difficulty is going to other people,” Jarboe said.
Prior to beginning her graduate internship, Robinson received her undergraduate degree from Henderson State University and worked in Ouachita’s IT department for 11 years.
Robinson hopes to work as a counselor in a university counseling center upon obtaining her license, citing her own experiences with university counseling as influential.
Robinson works with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention “Out of Darkness Walk” and hopes to lead a grief and suicide prevention support group in the future.
Counseling Services also offers support groups for women struggling with sexual temptation as well as one for women who have been sexually victimized.
For more information on Ouachita’s Counseling Services, visit obu.edu/counseling. Services in the counseling office are free to currently enrolled Ouachita students.
by Katie Kemp, news editor
