Group Counseling at Elizabethtown College begins this September, offering four different groups for students who need extra support in their daily lives from peers to whom they can relate. Two of the groups that will be available during the fall 2015 semester are Fearless, for students who need to build confidence, and Spectrum, for LGBTOIA students.
Counseling Services offers various enriching Group Counseling opportunities during each academic semester at Etown in order to aid in the discussion between students who must cope with similar issues. Along the way, the students learn to connect with their peers in the group while working to achieve their personal goals. The groups are always free and strictly confidential, in order to help ensure a safe and comfortable environment for students to talk about personal matters and thoughts without judgment or discrimination. Group counseling helps students come together to learn from one another, provide emotional support, and apply new ideas and skills to their individual experiences.
This semester’s first group, Fearless, is dedicated to helping Etown students improve their opinions of themselves, as well as building confidence, self-esteem, and self-compassion. Because low self-esteem is a fairly common problem for college students, having the support system of other students in a group counseling setting can be beneficial encouragement as they strive to achieve their own academic, interpersonal, or intrapersonal goals.
Fearless Facilitator Veronica Umbrell says, “So often we can feel isolated and alone in our struggles, but in group there is a realization that we are not alone and by sharing with others we can find empathy and support in working through our individual concerns.” She notes that while most students she has counseled were able to recognize their own lack of self-esteem if it was present, they did not necessarily know the underlying cause of the problem or how to handle it properly. A positive image of oneself tends to correlate with success and emotional wellness when facing life’s challenges, and group counseling can often help students find this image within themselves by teaching them wisdom and encouraging acceptance.
“The knowledge, skills, and acceptance found through the group process can be the turning point that many students have been searching for,” Umbrell concludes. Group Counseling can make all the difference for many students with conflicted emotions concerning themselves and others.
The second group, Spectrum, offers support to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual students at Etown. It is meant to be a safe space that allows students to explore and talk about subjects that associate with gender identity and sexual orientation. Topics can include those related to sexual orientation or gender identity, such as campus culture, struggles to talk with friends and family members, and social issues. However, Spectrum is also open to discussion about many different broader topics such as relationships, depression, anxiety, and other personal conflicts that may arise.
According to Spectrum Facilitator Evie J. Gerber, students of the LGBTQIA community face the same struggles that many other young adults do while attending college, whether they are academic, financial, social, or internal. In addition, these students also have to deal with other sources of stress, such as prejudice and a lack of acceptance from the people around them, that can make each day an even greater challenge for them. Spectrum offers Etown students within the LGBTQIA community the opportunity to support and empathize with one another and connect on an emotional level, while providing insight and knowledge from their own personal experiences. Within the group, students can gain encouragement and awareness from peers and appreciate the satisfaction of being able to help others in the same way.
“Students benefit not only from receiving support, but from providing support to other members,” Gerber says. “I think we can all relate to feeling good when we have something meaningful to offer others.”
Counseling Groups Fearless and Spectrum will be meeting weekly throughout the fall semester. Fearless meets Thursday afternoons from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Spectrum meets Thursday afternoons from 3:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. For more information on the groups or to schedule a pre-group meeting with a facilitator, students can contact Counseling Services in Brossman Commons 216 or call 717-361-1405.
-Amanda Jobes
