Counseling for College Students

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of college. At least, that is how it was for me. I (Hunter) had taken a gap year between high school and college to get a better sense of what I wanted to study. After a formative and difficult six-month stay in Mexico, I started my first year without a clear sense of what I wanted to do. I was also depressed at the time.

I declared a Spanish major and started taking pre-med courses. As was my tendency, I overcommitted myself to clubs and social events. I added on an engineering degree because it was not so much more than the pre-med requirements. I was interested in everything! 

The depression grew. And its cousin, anxiety, also came along for the ride. Procrastination, overwhelm, and avoidance soon followed. I had to deal with failure for the first time that the consequences mattered to me. Though I had great mentors and friends, my mental health struggles sometimes kept me apart from them. My questions about life and meaning got bigger as I wrestled with the spirituality I grew up with. 

I spent the summer before my junior year doing aid work in Mali and Honduras. It was an incredible experience, but I pushed myself to the brink. I was so depressed when I started the fall semester that I almost dropped out. Thankfully, I started therapy with a skilled practitioner. They helped me address some unresolved trauma from my childhood, which got me on a path of real health. And though I finished with my engineering degree, it was my experience of healing and relief in my own therapy that planted the seeds for me to return to grad school and become a therapist myself.

Common Experiences Among College Students

Whether your experience is similar to mine or not, coming into college can bring on many thoughts, feelings, and changes that you may not have been expecting. You’re not alone in feeling anxious, depressed, overwhelmed, or even disappointed during your college experience. Many college students struggle with their mental health due to situational issues as well as clinical diagnoses. There is a wide range of issues that might bring you to seek support at our therapy practice in Charlottesville, VA. Below is a list of common experiences we support college students with.

Anxiety

From making friends to taking exams, a normal college experience can be full of anxiety-provoking situations. For some, however, anxiety can become a debilitating cycle that keeps you from excelling in the ways you want to. At our counseling practice in Charlottesville, VA, we have experience helping students with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), panic disorder, and other anxiety-related concerns. If you’re struggling with excessive worry, working with one of our therapists for college students can help you take back power over your peace of mind.

Depression

Depression hurts, but therapy can help get you unstuck. If you’re suffering from symptoms of depression like low mood, trouble sleeping, irritability, or feeling like things will never get better, you don’t have to go it alone. Furthermore, with our counselors, you can develop coping skills for when depression strikes. This also helps to explore the root causes that may be keeping you down.

Eating Disorders and Body Image Concerns

At Full Life Counseling, we have experience working with a wide spectrum of disordered eating. We are more than committed to helping you break out of the cycle. Through eating disorder treatment and counseling, you can explore your relationship with food and your body. This helps to build healthy, sustainable habits that support everything you want to do.

Grief and Loss

Losing a loved one can be a lonely, confusing experience, especially when it happens for the first time in your life. Talking to one of our counselors can help you process your grief. At the same time, this helps to find ways to move forward while still honoring the important person.

Life Transitions and Identity Struggles

College brings up big questions for a lot of people, such as “What do I want to do?” and “Who do I want to be?” Often, when we leave our childhood home, we feel lost and unsure of who we are. Our therapists for college students are skilled at helping you explore these larger questions through explorations of values, mindfulness practices, and self-esteem development. We take inspiration from the words of Khalil Gibran: “The true teacher leads you not to the house of his wisdom, but to the steps of your own." So, while we cannot answer the questions for you, we are honored to walk beside you on your journey of self-discovery.

Relationship Concerns

We provide couples counseling and support to individuals regarding relationship difficulties. College is often the most social time of life and difficulties in relationships can be especially painful during these years. We are happy to provide support and expertise in helping you get back to, or find for the first time, deep meaningful connections with others.

Stress Management

While some stress can be healthy, many students experience negative effects of too much stress such as trouble sleeping, difficulty maintaining relationships, and struggles to get work done. Therapy at Full Life Counseling can help you learn stress management and self-care techniques to better cope with the stress you experience. We can also help you identify potential adjustments in your daily life to reduce your stress overall.

Substance Use and Addiction

In the work hard/play hard culture of college, some students struggle to put drugs and alcohol down even when the party’s over. Admitting your use is out of control can be hard, and having a supportive counselor can be helpful to identify alternatives and work through feelings you may be trying to numb. Whether you are trying to cut back or seeking long-term sobriety, our therapists are prepared to meet you where you are on your journey to wellness.

Worrying About the Future

Facing the future can feel daunting, especially in recent times. Declaring a major, graduating, and other large life decisions can all bring up worry about the future. At the beginning of the pandemic, the Dali Lama reminded us “If there is something to be done—do it, without any need to worry; if there’s nothing to be done, worrying about it further will not help.” We support college students in addressing each aspect of this idea, making practical plans to address what can be fixed, and resolving barriers that come up as you work to address the situation. When there is nothing that can be done, we help people to manage the general worry of the situation.

Our Approach to Counseling for College Students

Ecotherapy

Collaborating with nature, creating positive change, and having increased well-being is an ancient orientation. This takes countless forms all over the world. Ecotherapy is one form that provides clinical therapeutic services. This harbors a focus on the mind-body-spirit relationship with our natural environments. Time spent interacting with the natural world is needed, as the pace and focus of college life can leave us feeling empty and disconnected.

Ecotherapy is a multifaceted discipline and an umbrella term for the many nature-based methods of physical and psychological healing. It is as diverse as the many landscapes we may hail from and as unique as the countless ecosystems that exist on this planet. It can be held indoors or outdoors, with powerful moments experienced through nature-based mindfulness exercises, transformation created through caring for a houseplant, outdoor “walk and talk” therapy sessions, or an intentional climb on a trail in the backcountry. While its scope is expansive and includes a variety of ways of engaging with nature, at its core, ecotherapy is a contemplative form of psychotherapy that enlarges the traditional scope of treatment to include the human-nature relationship with the intent to be genuinely healing to both.

Sex Positive, Gender Identity Affirming, and LGBTQ+ Friendly Counseling

At Full Life, we celebrate all sexual and gender-expansive identities. We provide a safe space for people to explore questions of gender and sexuality. This also helps to bring awareness to the ways larger systems and cultures interact with them. We work with people to find affirming expressions of themselves and write letters of support for hormone therapy and gender affirmation surgeries. We have a sex-positive attitude and work with people on the complexities of relationships of all types.

Online Therapy in Virginia

We are encouraged to find that the ways we practice counseling have translated very well to online sessions. After the initial adjustment we all went through early in the pandemic, we have noticed that warmth and connection do come through the screen. Online therapy even seems to make some conversations easier. Because of the convenience of online therapy, we work with students and graduate students across the state of Virginia. We have worked with people from William and Mary, the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Washington and Lee, James Madison University, and Piedmont Community College.

Trauma Therapy and PTSD Treatment

Trauma comes in many forms, from combat experiences, accidents, natural disasters, childhood abuse, sexual assault, and rape. We cope with this as best we can and are often able to function well, but many survivors can feel miserable and isolated despite their high functioning. Therapists on our team have training in several methods of treating trauma including an Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) approach, a body-centered approach, and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing EMDR approach. We are also familiar with the ways trauma can make the college experience difficult and frequently work with Student Disability Access Centers (SDAC) to help people get accommodations to support academic success in the midst of healing from trauma.