During the school year, students often struggle to understand everything at once. For this reason, it is important to have a counseling center in the university to cater to the needs of students.
It’s so important for students to have a place to talk about their feelings in a safe environment, but this requires someone within the counseling department itself to make sure everything runs smoothly.
Queen’s University has been without a counseling center director since 2019. Jennifer Jarvis, vice president for student affairs, said the director’s mission is to “oversee wellness services and provide leadership for counseling, special services, and medical services.” Office work, registration management, etc.
The fact that there is no director means that the counseling center is understaffed. The staff responsible for the smooth operation of the counseling center will be absent, which will have a direct impact on the mental health of students.
However, in October, Dr. Irene Yu Yang Chen was hired as the department’s deputy director. Jarvis said the deputy director’s role is “responsible for the day-to-day oversight of the mental health services provided to Counseling Center staff and students.”
A director position, on the other hand, offers a more global perspective and can lead to further work in student mental health, for example. It will also allow the department to further increase its presence on campus.
From 2019 until October 2023, prior to Dr. Chen’s employment, the Counseling Center did not have any formal leadership. How did Queen’s College deal with this situation?
“The University received stimulus funds and the Counseling Center was able to hire five part-time employees. This additional staff and interns under the supervision of full-time staff will be used in managing the associate director hiring process. , we were able to effectively respond to the needs of our students,” Jarvis said.
Without leadership, counselors had to manage multiple roles and responsibilities to provide training to interns, which could take a lot of time. They had a lot on their plate.
Additionally, Queen’s College administrators would like to hire a director to make the center a better place to support students.
“The associate director position has been reintroduced to the center as a resource to support staff and students in preparing plans to provide expanded services,” Jarvis said. “The goal is to hire a director of counseling, health and wellness to oversee, evaluate and expand wellness services.”
Queens College is moving in the right direction to provide more services to students to ensure that their needs are met in their academic pursuits.
