For Individuals

Counseling for College Students

College is a time for chasing after your passions, becoming the person you’ve always wanted to, and finding your family away from home. There’s a lot of stress and pressure behind that! The transition from high school to college is one of the most difficult you’ll experience. It’s fraught with society pressure to be the perfect image of collegiate success, along with your own searching questions, and of course, the dreaded adulting. Despite the burning desire to finally be independent, it can be extremely helpful to have someone in your corner fighting for you. A counselor at Newark Behavioral Health can be that encouraging, outside person that can help you juggle everything from hard classes to dorm life to more serious mental health challenges.

Image of a male college student reading a book after a counseling session at Newark Behavioral Health
An image of several overlapping yellow circular lines over the top of another image

What is Counseling for College Students?

We adapt our sessions to your goals, needs, and current situation. You are at the center of every session. We want to stress that going to counselor is not a sign of weakness. Just because your friend can juggle 18 credit hours, hot yoga three times a week, and be the president of two different clubs doesn’t mean you have to. We all have our different strengths and limits. Someone else’s super-strength may be your kryptonite. Although it can be hard, it’s important to try not to compare yourself to others, especially during college years. Instead, focus on how far you’ve come. With a focus on you, a Newark Behavioral Health counseling session can go all sorts of directions.

  • Some examples of common reasons we see college students include:

    Adjustment to College

    It doesn’t matter how well you’ve prepared for college; it will come as a shock. Suddenly, you’re torn from everything you’ve known. You may be far away from friends and family, with more free time and trust than you’ve ever had before. But with that comes responsibilities, and a startingly lack of strong support system.

    There’s nothing wrong with needing a little help to adjust to college, whether it’s dorm life, finding new friends, feeling overwhelmed, or anxiety about the future. Newark Behavioral Health is here to talk you through your doubts and fears and provide good coping mechanisms for everything college might throw at you.

    Depression and Anxiety

    Two very different things, but they often will come bundled in the same package. Depression and anxiety rates soar in college. The new environment combined with the looming aspect of the future can prompt mental illness to take root.

    Both depression and anxiety are very treatable, especially if we catch them early. Thriveworks Newark will work with you as ride out the lows and prepare for maintaining the highs. We can focus on addressing negative thoughts, finding healthy coping mechanisms, and coming up with a plan to protect your mental health.

    Academics

    One of the two big “A” words in college. Academics, and adulting. Both are new challenges to many college students, and wanting a little extra support is a great way to be proactive about your mental health.

    Newark Behavioral Health completely understands how stressful college academics is. You go from a very structured, organized High School class system, and thrown into a scattered lecture hall with 100+ students and told to figure it out. That’s a lot!

    Our Newark Behavioral Health counselors can help you schedule out your life, work with time-management, or just be your biggest cheerleader as you tackle all your classes and responsibilities.

    Loneliness

    Despite what everyone’s social media stories might suggest, almost every college student struggles with loneliness at some point. It can be incredibly demoralizing when you are surrounded by people but feel completely alone. Sometimes, we lose touch with our old friends, but don’t seem to be making new ones fast enough. Sometimes, a romantic relationship that was so promising, fizzles out and leaves us feeling so alone.

    This is not a character flaw or a life sentence of loneliness! Working with a Newark Behavioral Health counselor to work through negative, untrue beliefs and build up your confidence can be a great way to combat loneliness.

    Newark Behavioral Health is excited to meet you and begin working towards a happy, fulfilling life. No matter what you’re struggling with, we are here to support and encourage you. You deserve to have the best college experience possible, and we can be that little extra boost to get you there.

Get the help you need today

You deserve dedicated time with a caring mental health professional—we can help.