Tag Archives: help

Counseling Available for All Students

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Imagine you’re in a store.  You see a man up ahead.  He looks familiar.  But rather than brushing it off and moving on, something strange happens.  Your heart races, you begin to sweat, your throat closes up and you can’t breathe.  You begin to cry.  You don’t know what is happening, but you know you have to get out of there immediately.

A few short years ago, that was my life.  The mundane details of my life caused debilitating panic attacks.  I had escaped abuse, moved on with my life, and was finally happy.  Why was this happening to me now?  I didn’t understand it, but I knew I needed help.  That is when I met Brianna Taylor and Barbara Wilson.  Those two women saved my life.  If it weren’t for them, I have no doubt I would not be in school right now.  Back then, I could have never balanced a family and being a successful college student.  Thankfully, now I have the tools I need to work through issues and to be successful.

When I first met Brianna and Barbara, they were counselors for Community Healthcore.  Brianna was my primary counselor and Barbara worked on my PTSD.  These two caring individuals are highly trained LPCs (Licensed Professional Counselors).  And now, Texas A&M – Texarkana, is lucky to have them as part of their staff.

Counseling services through Brianna and Barbara are available to any TAMUT student, free of charge.  The number of sessions for students are determined on a case by case basis.  Brianna said, “We help students with anything from test anxiety, all the way up to something more significant, such as trauma or PTSD.”

There are multiple ways to make an appointment for counseling services.  Students can drop by or call the Counseling Center at 903-223-3186, or they can send an email to counseling.services@ace.tamut.edu.  Professors can also make referrals for students in need.  The Counseling Center is located on the fourth floor in the main campus building.

Don’t be afraid to take care of your mental health needs.  There is no reason to be ashamed or afraid.  Barbara said, “We’re people too.”

As with any other mental health professional, the TAMUT counselors are bound by privacy laws.  All sessions are completely confidential.  Don’t neglect your mental health.  Make an appointment today.

 

Puppy Service

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Alyssa Howard

How important is community service to you? Have you ever thought of all the organizations within your community that desperately need volunteers to assist in their services? Look around; you will easily find an organization to share your time with.

Community service is one of the National Panhellenic Council’s strong values. We strive to serve our university and our community the best we can. For the past couple of weeks we have held a donation drive for The Texarkana Animal Shelter. The donations we needed were dog and cat food, cleaning supplies, blankets and/or towels, and coins. At the end of the two weeks, we raised 20 dollars in coins, several sacks of 16, 50, and 100 pound dog food, 16 pound sacks of cat food, cans of dog and cat food, cleaning supplies, towels, and blankets. We want to give our appreciation to everyone that contributed to our donation drive.

Last Sunday we delivered all of the donations to the shelter and volunteered for three hours. We showed up on a perfect day, because they needed a big cleaning before the mayor comes in two weeks. There were 13 of us that arrived to work, so we split up into two groups. One group went downstairs, and the rest of us worked upstairs. First, we washed and dried all of the food bowls. Of course we made an assembly line, that way we could get the job done quicker.
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After we washed dishes, we scrubbed every pen with a detergent/bleach mixture. Warning: if clumps of hair grosses you out, do not scrub the floor of a dog pen with a sponge. It was quite comical hearing some of the girls gagging and squealing. It was also great to see the teamwork happening while cleaning the pens. After we finished a couple of them, there seemed to be a pattern that we caught on to. Everyone had a certain job that they did, and it worked perfectly.
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Next, we did laundry and organized one of the closets full of blankets, towels, and rugs. After we finished, our curiosity got the best of us, and we decided to travel downstairs to check on the other girls. Upon arriving, we learn that they have been holding some of the most adorable puppies we have ever seen. As soon as we saw small, fluffy balls of playfulness, we were sold. Minutes later, we discover a carrier full of another ten puppies. Our minds became overloaded with happiness. The employees could tell we were puppy lovers, so we got to bathe about 13 puppies. It was very interesting to see the difference in puppy personalities during bath time. Some went completely stiff, others went “panic attack mode” and splashed soap and water all over the place. In other words, bath time was quite comical.
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At the end of our volunteer experience, the employees gave us their deepest appreciation. We made their day much easier, while their animals made our hearts warmer. If anyone is looking for community service hours or just wants to volunteer their time to help the community, please consider going to The Texarkana Animal Shelter. They can always use help and donations. Also, if anyone is looking for a new pet, please adopt one from the shelter. There is an abundance of sweet animals that need a loving home. The best pets are rescue animals.
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How can you deny that face?
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By:Alyssa Howard

(I copied and pasted the images, but let me know if they showed up or not please. I can send them to you, if not.)

Overcoming Obstacles Together Organization

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Trent Hines

Making a shifty move, you get past the first defender, you hurdle over the next and the path is clear. There is nothing but green grass in front of you. Running, you pass the 50, the 40, the 30, the 20, the 10, and just before you’re approaching the in-zone, the opposing team player, number 24, comes to try to stop you from your touchdown. You have two options. You can run through the obstacle, or you can let the obstacle stop you. In life there are two options, you can attack your obstacles head on or you can let them defeat you.

My organization is Overcoming Obstacles Together, or O.O.T, is a Texas A&M University-Texarkana club in which people come and talk about the obstacles they face. Attendants of O.O.T go through 5 stages, introduction, acknowledgement, encouragement, overcoming, and finally sustainability.

In the first stage, people who attend get to know each other through icebreakers, games, and simple conversations. This stage allows the people to get familiar with people and to be comfortable for the next stage which is the acknowledgement stage.

In the acknowledgement stage people have an opportunity to share to the group what they have experienced in life and how it has affected them. In this stage people will openly address the obstacle they are dealing with in life. Everyone will clap after each person has acknowledged an obstacle, providing encouragement and reassurance that they are not alone.

In the Encouragement stage, the most vital stage, people will have to encourage one another with high fives, hugs, words, and thumbs up, creating a positive and encouraging environment. There will be activities which will be competitive but everyone who is not participating will have to cheer on those who are, everyone will get a chance to compete.

Next is the overcoming stage, and in this stage people have to put action into removing their obstacle. For example if someone’s obstacle is drinking, than they must stop drinking. Everyone will be given an accountability partner and they will check up on each person periodically to make sure that each person is putting action into overcoming the obstacle.

Last is the sustainability stage, and in this stage people will become leaders and some people will assist and mentor anyone that had the same obstacle as they had and they would take them through all the phases. This stage will make a person be self-sustaining, since there are people that look up to them and that they are making a difference.

You have just run over number 24 for the touchdown and your team won the game. Overcoming Obstacles Together (O.O.T) will make people start to look at their obstacles optimistically and they will know that struggles in life are as big as you make them and they are small to the members of O.O.T so join today and have victory over all obstacles.