Mental health and therapy used to be a taboo subject, but now it has become more openly discussed, and the Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College wants to keep it that way with their new honors college therapist.
LSU alumna Julie Lorio started as the Honors College’s embedded mental health therapist on Jan. 9. The “Honors College Mental Health Initiative” was started by the Dean of the Honors College, Jonathan Earle, after he noticed heightened levels of students dealing with anxiety, perfectionism and depression stemming from when the pandemic began.
“I thought this was a really great use of resources to focus on these challenges,” Earle said.
Lorio provides individual therapy that can be accessed and requested through the Student Health Center. She is also hosting a series of six emotional wisdom seminars that are psychoeducational-based, Lorio said. The seminars will discuss the basics of mental health, coping skills and other related topics.
“It’s a good entry level way to start engaging with a therapist,” Earle said regarding the seminars.
Private donors like Roger Ogden and a partnership with the Student Health Center made having a therapist in the French House possible, Earle said. He said he got impatient waiting for more amenities, so he initiated the prioritization of accessible therapy.
Not only as the dean but also as a professor, Earle has noticed that students don’t just struggle with anxiety and depression separately but that many face both at the same time. He said that a part of him being an academic administrator is that he can do more than give a lecture or a grade. He can make change, he said.
“We have been very successful at LSU and elsewhere in higher education at destigmatizing mental health problems and therapy,” Earle said. “When I was in college, it was like a huge issue. Like no one told anybody if you were seeing a therapist or if you were taking antidepressants, and now, it is just much more open.”
All services are completely covered by the Student Health Center fee in students’ fee bill. Currently, appointments at the French House are primarily focusing on honors students. Lorio encourages non-honors students to reach out to the Student Health Center for their appointments there if they are in need of help.
“Therapy in general is a great opportunity for you to just gain more insights on yourself and to figure out why we do the things we do and whether or not they are helpful or unhelpful,” Lorio said.
Mass communication freshman Julian Zona said it can sometimes be hard to juggle the life and responsibilities of being an honors student while also maintaining a good social and work life.
“Having someone who can be there to understand our struggles and help us through these struggles is going to be important for all of us,” Zona said.
Zona said that many students feel ashamed for needing help and that the accessibility of these new services can hopefully change that.
Biology freshman Roland Mollere lives in the Laville honors dorms and believes that a therapist located in the French House will encourage students to schedule appointments because of the shortened distance. The Laville Honors House is on a separate side of campus than the Student Health Center.
Mollere said that specifically amongst kids in the honors college, mental health has become a more of a topic that is discussed and that students are willing to have open conversations about it.
“From my experience in taking one of my honors classes last semester, a lot was proactively talking about mental health and lot of current going-ons in the world about adolescent health,” Mollere said, “It was made to feel like we were adults – we have just the same emotions and needs as other people.”
