As the semester midterms ended, the University of Southern Mississippi counseling service recently hosted an event to help students relax. Called “Stress Less,” the activity included snacks and fellowship and took place on the Centennial Green, with special canine guests, CashMoney and Blaze.
Sidney Landreau, the administrative assistant for the student counseling center, stated that the event’s purpose was for students to take a moment of wellness and learn more about student counseling services that can help them stress less.
“The end of midterms week, right before spring break; we just want to come out here with the therapy dogs and provide students an opportunity to come get a snack…” Landreau said. “Take a moment for themselves to distress; decompress from midterms and school stress and everything and just kind of come to take a moment to stress less.”
Student Counseling Services offers currently enrolled students free, confidential counseling services and can provide referrals to campus and community resources. Students can make an appointment in their office or call their phone number to make that appointment.
“You can call our phone number, which is (601) 266-4829,” Landreau added. “It can also be found on our website which is usm.edu/counseling. You just give our first desk a call and it will get you set up with a screening appointment.”
Students can expect their first appointment to be a screener, and it is typically conducted via Zoom. During this process, a health professional assesses a student’s current needs and makes referrals (on and off campus) for ongoing support and resources.
The center encourages students to call the office during university business hours with any questions about appointments. However, they do not offer online scheduling. Students living outside Mississippi can receive a one-time consultation to ensure they are informed about resources in their community.
The Student Counseling Center will also host a “Pop into SCS” event planned for April. It is a tabling event in the Thad Cochran Center. They will have snacks and the tabling will consist of learning more about the center on campus and promoting it to students.
The Student Counseling Services offer individual and group therapy, referrals to clinics on and off campus, crisis response and intervention, consultations, and education and outreach.
They have the National Suicide and Crisis Hotline, where if students have a crisis, they call or text 988. The group therapy has new spring 2024 groups that began in January 2024 with admissions on a rolling basis through April 2024. Students will need to be screened by staff before an official group referral.
The Student Counseling Center is open Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm on the 1st floor of Bond Hall East, next door to Luckyday Citizenship Hall. To be on the lookout for events, see their Instagram page @usmcounseling.
