Embedded Counseling Program Expands Counseling Resource Accessibility for Students

NC State’s Counseling Center strives to cultivate emotional and psychological growth that will allow students to succeed and flourish. One of the most important elements of delivering on that mission is ensuring counseling services are as accessible and available to students as possible. 

Since the start of the 2022-23 school year, the expansion of the Embedded Counseling program, which has placed a dedicated counselor in each academic college or unit on campus, has grown that endeavor by leaps and bounds. 

We’ve demonstrated time and time again that when you build a relationship with a community and they get to know who that counselor is, they’re more apt to connect with services.

“I think stigma still exists when it comes to accessing mental health care,” said Monica Osburn, the Counseling Center’s executive director. “We’ve demonstrated time and time again that when you build a relationship with a community and they get to know who that counselor is, they’re more apt to connect with services.”

The expansion of the Embedded Counseling program came as a result of a recommendation from the Student Mental Health Task Force, as well as conversations with deans across the university and the Provost’s Office about the best ways to provide mental health services to students. 

Some of the most common barriers to obtaining mental health support revolve around availability and physical proximity to services. The various colleges and the Provost’s Office both recognized the need to eliminate those barriers, providing direct funding for the Embedded Counseling program. 

“I think that’s really important,” Osburn said. “It shows broad support from a university standpoint of this mission-critical program.” 

The counselors embedded within the academic colleges, such as Luke Strawn with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), expressed an appreciation for getting to spend more one-on-one time with students, and getting a chance to know a smaller population of students better than they perhaps would if working at the central Counseling Center. 

“It lets us get to know them a great amount,” Strawn said. “It’s huge. I believe CALS has roughly 4,000 students, and I find that by being able to zero in on a student population, I get to know them a little bit more.”

Getting these direct interactions with student groups allows the embedded counselors to gain a stronger understanding of the specific challenges students in colleges or units might face. In addition to the academic units and colleges, there are also embedded counselors who split time between community centers such as the Women’s Center, LGBTQ Pride Center, African American Cultural Center, Multicultural Student Affairs and the various scholars programs such as Park, Goodnight and Caldwell. 

All of these embedded counselors are able to understand specific challenges such as course loads, project deadlines and other factors that may directly impact a student’s mental health. 

“It’s about knowing and understanding the culture of the school.

“I’ve found it to be incredibly valuable, even just on the one-on-one perspective, of saving time since students don’t have to explain to me what their program is like,” said Emily Burdo, the College of Design’s embedded counselor. “The College of Design is pretty specialized in that they have studio classes, which are very intensive, and I’m getting to know the five degrees within my program. It’s about knowing things like that, and understanding the culture of the school.”

Being embedded within the colleges allows these counselors to be more directly visible to students. They can promote counseling services early on in new academic years and semesters by visiting classrooms, and participating in college welcome events, or even summer orientation. 

“We really try to normalize the conversation around mental health services just as much as academic advising, scholarships or anything like that,” Strawn said. 

By offering services such as weekly drop-in office hours, embedded counselors can help students more quickly and easily access needed counseling services. 

“I’ve had students say I never would have made it to the Counseling Center, but knowing that you’re right here, I am here now,” Burdo said. “That moves me every time I hear it. One student coming that normally wouldn’t is such a special thing.” 

One student coming that normally wouldn’t is such a special thing.

Being embedded directly within the colleges also allows these counselors to build relationships with faculty and staff. 

Counselors such as Strawn and Burdo can collaborate with professors on outreach services for classes, and build relationships with teachers and advisors so they have added comfortability referring students to them for counseling services. This also allows them to help faculty and staff understand potential reasons behind issues students are facing. 

“That’s one of the definite outcomes and benefits of this program,” Osburn said. “The clinician can really understand that community and its needs more. The faculty experience with knowing the clinician and being able to consult with them is extremely helpful. There could be a puzzle piece to a much bigger picture that the faculty has no idea about, that we can help them give alternative ways to support that student by getting them connected to care. Sometimes, faculty don’t see certain behaviors through a mental health lens. … There’s a whole iceberg underneath related to a mental health concern that our counselors can help them understand.”

Over the past several school years, as the Embedded Counseling program has fully taken root, the Counseling Center has increased its ability to meet students where they are. Embedded counselors allow students to fit accessing necessary care into their busy schedules by offering resources directly in their class spaces. 

“I’m so grateful and honored to be in this role and to have this program available,” Burdo said. “It really is something special. I think the access that it provides is really unique.”

This post was originally published in DASA.