Counseling Services at Green River
By Reece Bakeman
Students attending Green River College have a variety of students services available to them, including the student counseling service.
For many years Green River has offered personal counseling sessions to enrolled students free of charge. Students have access to appointed sessions where they can speak to and receive support from a counselor.
These short-term one-on-one sessions aim to provide an outlet for students to express their concerns, struggles, or feelings and make sense of them with the help of an expert.
“There’s great benefit in being able to talk with someone who is outside of your social circle,” says Elizabeth McKinney, a member of the counseling staff. “You don’t have to worry about bias or judgement. We create a safe space for students to be able to explore what they’re thinking and feeling.”
It should be mentioned that while Green River offers these services free of charge, there is a limit to how much the service can be utilized.
As a student at Green River, you have access to a total of seven counseling sessions – and this is for the entire duration of your time as a student, McKinney adds.
“We do consider our services short-term. However, we have relaxed this with the pandemic.”
While this limitation exists, the service extends beyond directly providing counseling sessions. It also serves to help students seeking a long-term solution.
“We can help connect them to other counselors out in the community,” says McKinney.
She further detailed how the counseling center helps students to find what they can access with their health insurance, or otherwise through aid programs if the student lacks health insurance, acknowledging the cost of private counseling.
Students can request an appointment through the Counseling Services page on the Green River website. Drop-in meetings are also available, permitting students to meet with a counselor without scheduling an appointment.
Here is a 13-minute video showing the array of services provided by Counseling Services: https://youtu.be/kFHthKEyTN0
Here is another link to the Counseling Services website that explains more about the services it provides: https://www.greenriver.edu/campus/campus-resources/counseling-services/
