Sarah Jones, Director of Counseling at Jones College, has dedicated her life and career to helping people understand their mental health and how paramount it is to ensure that people care for it just as they would their physical health.
“We all have things going on in life that we don’t know how to separate,” said Jones. “Counseling is a way that can help healthily guide you and will always be beneficial to an individual later through life.”
Jones takes a holistic perspective when it comes to aiding students’ mental health with an understanding approach to how mental health can diversly affect each individual. She explained that taking care of one’s mental health should be deemed a fundamental aspect of life and not frowned upon within society. However, while there is no direct image of what mental health looks like, there is still a huge stigma surrounding the topic.
The stigmas surrounding mental health can have drastic consequences for those who require help, Jones said. Preventing or delaying people from seeking resources can be detrimental, yet no matter how important counseling is many are turned away from it out of fear of judgment. Discriminatory attitudes towards counseling and mental health only lead to the social isolation and exclusion of those who require this assistance.
“The stigmas of mental health are harmful to society,” said Jones. “Mental health is many different things; it is not purely just depression or anxiety, and we need to take care of it just as we do our physical health. It is just as important.”
To help bring awareness to Jones students of the services and programs offered on campus, there are many pop-up events centered around the topic of mental health. Throughout the year students are urged to take part in the activities that are provided in order to not only be aware of the support systems in place at Jones, but also to gain further insight into what mental health truly is and how no one is immune to it.
Counseling at Jones is free to all currently enrolled students and is always confidential. The counselors are located in Student Affairs in the Hutchinson Hubbard Administration building. Students can reach Jones for appointments by emailing (using their school email address) Sarah.jones@jcjc.edu
Counseling is beneficial to all and I urge people to reach out if they are struggling,” said Jones. “We all have bad days, but talking to people can make these days a little bit more manageable.”
by Boo Mills