The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: Therapy

  • Jasmin’s Corner; you need therapy

    Jasmin’s Corner; you need therapy

    by Jasmin Shirazian

    Hey Jasmin, 

    I think I need therapy, but I’m afraid. I’m not the type of person who likes to share my sad feelings with anybody, so I shove them down and pretend like they aren’t there. Recently, I’ve been noticing that my sad emotions are starting to catch up to me and are taking over my thoughts. I can’t really sleep because of them and it’s making all of my days seem mushed together. So back to the therapy thing, I’m afraid to tell someone about how I feel because I don’t want to get judged. In my mind, I feel like it’s silly for someone like me to be sad because I don’t really have anything happen to me recently to have sad emotions. 

    If you think you need therapy, you need therapy. If you don’t think you need therapy, you’re wrong and you need it more than anyone else. To me, therapy is just as important as a regular doctor or dentist appointment. Your mental health is just as relevant as the physical stuff. 

    Shame, pride and embarrassment are what stop many people from seeking help, but you can’t let your fear prevent your growth. Therapists are awesome because they get paid to care, so you don’t have to feel like you’re burdening anyone in your life with your problems. Their job isn’t to judge you, but to help you, though it may take a few tries to find a therapist that you feel comfortable with. Life is about trial and error. 

    Journaling your feelings throughout the day can be a good starting point in expressing your feelings. Getting them down on paper can help organize your thoughts and maybe recognize some patterns, like certain triggers. At the end of the day though, a proper diagnosis can seriously help you navigate your emotions and make sense of your brain. 

    You have to take chances and put yourself in uncomfortable positions to create change in your life. Being vulnerable is one of the strongest things you can be, which is why it can be so hard to get to a point of comfortability within it. 

    There’s no reason to feel silly for having emotions just because you’re not actively going through a tragedy or a trauma. If you can’t find the means to validate yourself, let me put it clearly: you are allowed to have feelings. More than anything, you are allowed to feel your feelings. 

    Shoving your feelings down into an endless pit will only fill it with emotional-vipers that’ll come back to bite you in the ass later in life. Make your life easier and deal with them now. 

    xoxo,

    Jasmin

  • It’s time to stop the taboo talk around therapy

    It’s time to stop the taboo talk around therapy

    I remember the first time I went to therapy. I had just dropped out of a public high school my sophomore year and joined a charter school with only two days a week of face to face classes. I was 15, overwhelmed, depressed and confused – all things that come along with growing up. I told my parents I didn’t know how to handle these feelings, how empty and lost I felt. So my dad connected me with a local therapist.

    For a long time, I didn’t tell people I was going to therapy because it felt shameful. Now as a 10-year therapy veteran, I can honestly say it was the best decision I have ever made.

    You are not any less valid for wanting to better yourself, and therapy can help you do that. It isn’t something that will happen overnight, but therapy can help you learn and exercise healthy coping mechanisms.

    Being able to talk to someone I knew I could trust helped me process the feelings at hand. Being stuck in my own head was detrimental to my well-being because I couldn’t always see both sides of the coin. When you talk to your therapist, they will offer you alternative perspectives that you may not have ever considered.

    The most valuable thing I’ve learned is that I am allowed to feel sad, angry and happy. I can give myself permission to experience all of the emotions that come with life. With negative emotions, it’s important to recognize them, accept them, but not let them consume you, challenge them. I have learned, and am still putting into practice, that concept.

    The coping mechanisms that I find most useful when I’m not able to see my therapist are reaching out to people I trust, letting myself enjoy moments of happiness, to be vulnerable and receive emotional support. Self-care is another important coping mechanism. Mine is drinking coffee and watching Gilmore Girls. It doesn’t have to be extravagant. It can be as simple as letting yourself sleep in one day a week, taking a walk on the beach or writing down how you feel, whatever brings you joy.

    The Mental Health America Association has a long list of healthy coping mechanisms to adapt which I learned in therapy as well, including but not limited to, connecting with yourself, doing things you enjoy, and setting realistic goals for yourself.

    Life is not one size fits all. Everyone struggles in life, everyone has a story and trauma unique to themselves. You are valid in your feelings, you deserve to be helped, you deserve to flourish. When I understood that reaching out for help can only benefit me, it changed my life.

    I’m not cured, but I’ve learned to function with my mental illness, how to adapt in times of distress, and you deserve that too.

  • New Grant Spurs CAPS Growth

    New Grant Spurs CAPS Growth

    CAPS will provide 36 more appointments per day by next year

    On Jan. 9, the California State University Office of the Chancellor gave Counseling and Psychological Services a grant of $150,000 under the California Budget Act of 2019 to provide Humboldt State University students with more counseling services to combat mental health issues.

    Director of Counseling and Psychological Services and Associate Director of Student Health and Wellbeing Services Jennifer Sanford was closely involved in the acceptance of the grant.

    “I’m most excited about the pilot project to get innovative programs off the ground that’s focused on high-risk students,” Sanford said. “In developing this program we will be doing some specialized training that we’re doing research on now to launch next year.”

    “Mental health doesn’t get the recognition that it should. When you’re not mentally well, your body reacts to that. If you’re stressed out, you’re only going to make it worse. More people should pay attention to it.”

    Danele Quijas

    Lobby areas will be built to hold more students and allow for an increase in counseling appointments. The grant will also fund two new therapy offices in the Behavioral and Social Sciences building, which will allow therapists to extend their hours. More tables and chairs will be added to the waiting areas to eliminate standing-room-only appointments. Construction will begin this summer.

    The funds are expected to help students learn life skills, cope, regulate stress and manage moods. CAPS says improving these areas can improve class attendance, retention in school and promote graduation. With anti-stigma campaigning, CAPS hopes to make students feel comfortable talking about their problems.

    Danele Quijas, a 22-year-old biology major, said students don’t pay enough attention to their mental health.

    “Mental health doesn’t get the recognition that it should,” Quijas said. “When you’re not mentally well, your body reacts to that. If you’re stressed out, you’re only going to make it worse. More people should pay attention to it.”

    A pilot project of $25,000 was also accepted by CAPS and will allow the growth of an intensive treatment program for high-risk students with disabling and chronic mental health issues. This treatment plan will include individual and group therapy as well as the highly-researched dialectical behavior therapy. CAPS hopes to continue this growth by providing other California State Universities with the tools to rebuild their own programs to be as effective as possible.

    Casey Pederson, a senior majoring in business marketing, said HSU should do more to make resources clearly available to students.

    “In a case like this with mental health, there can never be too many resources—so I definitely think it would help,” Pederson said. “I also think a big issue about it is getting people to know. Like I said, I had no knowledge that this was happening, and the big thing with mental health is the lack of knowledge and getting help. And there are resources available.”