Counseling Center

Outreach

Our Commitment to Promoting Well-Being Through Outreach

The UMaine Counseling Center is committed to supporting the mental health and well-being of all students. We work with the larger campus community to bring information, programs, and consultation to students, faculty and staff. From our workshop series to presentations on relationships and suicide prevention- we are passionate about improving college student mental health by promoting wellness through prevention, spreading awareness, education and stigma reduction.

Why Outreach?

Through outreach, Counseling Center staff are able to connect with the larger UMaine community and foster a more inclusive, kind, caring, and compassionate community. We hope to reach students, staff and faculty- whether it’s to provide individual counseling, assist a student who is seeking help for a friend, or to host a presentation for faculty. Our Outreach, Education & Prevention efforts take many forms. Browse below to find ways to get involved or take advantage of the expertise our staff have to offer.

Workshops/Presentations

Workshops/presentations are an easy way to introduce students to a variety of topics, ranging from “Introduction to the Counseling Center” to “Mental Health for First Year Students” to “Working with Students in Distress.” Due to limited staffing resources, we are not able to attend every presentation we are asked to do. To continue to meet this need of our community, however, we have created mental health care packages and bite-size video workshops available upon request and on our website.

For the Spring of 2023, we are proud to offer a variety of workshops for students focused on:

1. Suicide Prevention
2. Working with Students in Distress
3. Academic Recovery Programs

Should you like to have our staff present on a mental health topic, please contact Julia Vicaire to discuss your needs. We’ll do our best to help or provide you with additional resources.

Mind Spa

The Mind Spa is now housed under the umbrella of the Student Wellness Resource Center. Our Counseling Center staff will continue to collaborate and consult with Student Wellness in order to offer support and an array of programs to meet the diverse needs of the University Community.

Suicide Prevention Efforts

Our goal is to continue to make UMaine a place where we can have honest dialogue about feelings of hopelessness and thoughts of suicide. By bringing this struggle into the light, we hope that students will seek help and get the support they need and deserve, before it’s too late. Read more about what we currently do to help make our UMaine community safer from deaths by suicide.

Fresh Check Day

The counseling center is proud to be involved during the Spring semester in Fresh Check Day! Our goal is shed light on prevention through mental health education and dialogue.

Gatekeeper Training

This workshop is focused on suicide prevention where participants will learn of current statistics related to suicide, challenge myths, discuss stigma, as well as the basics of interpersonal theory of suicide.

Workshops are typically 60-90 minutes and include role plays. You can count on learning various important life skills through the process such as:

• Understand the mental health status/climate of students at UMaine and nationally
• Learn to recognize early signs of depression and suicide
• Develop more comfort and skill in talking about depression and suicide
• Explore our fears related to intervening and being direct
• Learn the helpful “do’s” and “dont’s”
• Practice making interventions and referrals
• Learn more about the resources on campus

International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day

The International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day (ISOSL) is intended to bring those who have lost someone to suicide together in their shared journeys of grief, healing, and remembrance. This community event has typically consisted of a small gathering for discussion and a vigil at the Wilson Center geared towards survivors of suicide loss.

Events

During the Spring 2019 semester, the Counseling Center launched the first ever #UMatter #UMaine event. Check out the videos below to catch a glimpse of what this week long event was all about 🙂