Using Counseling to Your Advantage

This past semester I made it a priority to go to the Hazen Counseling & Health Center at The College At Brockport to meet with a counselor. After having a rough semeter in the Fall and because I was a recent transfer student at Brockport I did not take the opportunity to visit the Health Center and meet with a counselor for the first time. At SUNY NCCC I had my own counselor who I went to at times where I was struggling in the semester with courses and the passing of an ex girlfriend to a heart attack. By visiting with the campus counselor and talking about things on my mind it made me feel more confident in myself after each session and that there was something lifted off of my chest.

For this semester I meet with a counselor once a month where I would go in a talk to them for an hour about how my semester was going, how classes were, and how my life and home was. This semester I mourned the loss of a grandparent and a beloved pet my depression has affected me tremendously. Talking to the counselor in Hazen about the passing of my grandmother and my old dog, it made me feel more appreciated, valued, and more confident in myself with seeing that I was there for them even in their final days. The counselor helped me have a better mindset and have a better outlook on the semester because of all of the things I accomplished this semester and how I use my own daily struggles with depression to help those who also may have it to have their own better outlook on their life and see that they are not alone in this world with the mental illness that is depression.