Public Affairs

AUK Counseling Center: Changing the Conversation on Mental Health

29th Jan 2023 | by the Department of PR & Marketing

The Counseling Center at AUK is an establishment that ensures the students’ wellness as they navigate their journey on campus. It offers services that include personal counseling and disability accommodations to support students as they overcome what inhibits their success and prepare them for lifelong learning and development.
 
The Center carries out its mission to not only cater to mental health needs, but to engage students in back-and-forth conversations about mental wellbeing. One such example of this is the series of workshops that the Counseling Center had introduced throughout this academic year. In the workshop titled, I Know How You Feel, the Center discussed the ways in which students can show empathy and reciprocity towards themselves and others.
 
Meanwhile, in the Toxic Relationships workshop, students shared their personal experiences to stimulate deep and meaningful conversations about the different forms of manipulation, and even role-played scenarios of passive aggressive behavior to better identify it.

Additionally, workshops like Emotions Matter, encouraged students to learn how to regulate their emotions effectively, and recognize the most common myths about emotions, including how to counter them. The Counseling Center followed the same effective model of guidance and counsel in the De-Stress with Origami, Mental Health Matters, Anxiety Stops Here, Don’t Worry be Happy, Gaslighting, and the New Year New Bullet Journal workshops.

Dr. Georges Chedid, director of the Counseling Center, stressed the importance of instigating initiatives that shed light on mental health, “The goal of the Counseling Center concerning our initiatives and workshops is to spread awareness on various mental health topics, especially on topics less talked about to reduce the stigma and misconceptions attached to them. We aim to provide students with a better understanding of their overall mental and physical health by providing them with the tools and support they need.”
 
External collaborations have also become a staple for the Counseling Center’s efforts in providing students with multiple viewpoints from a range of experts within the field of mental well-being. One such collaboration was a talk by clinical psychologist, Dr. Sarah Sease and psychologist, Dr. Nicholas Scull that was presented by the US embassy to enhance students’ abilities to deal with anxiety and build positive mental health habits.

Another external collaboration was the Say No to Drugs campaign with the Ministry of Interior on the drug laws in Kuwait and the risks associated with drug abuse. The event was a success with a very high turnout of students. Presented by Dr. Ayed Al-Humaidan, global expert in the field of narcotics and psychoactive substances; and General Administration for Drug Control officer, Lieutenant Ali Abdulnasser Marzouk, the lecture proved to be both beneficial and thought-provoking.

Internal collaborations with AUK clubs have also offered the campus community the tools and skills needed to address their mental health needs. The Counseling Center collaborated with the Charitable Club to raise awareness on ADHD; and Fikir Club with the US Air Force, to discuss psychological flexibility and acceptance, and commitment therapy. These events reflect the extent to which the Counseling Center is up-to-date with the current mental health needs that students require.

Further solidifying their strong ethos of aiding AUK students with navigating their university experience, the Counseling Center also recently collaborated with the College of Business and Economics on an event in which the Center presented the PRIME initiative on the SDG-3 Good Health and Wellbeing. They discussed stress and anxiety and how to cope with it.

Upon reflection of the effectiveness of these workshops and collaborations, Dr. Georges is well-attuned to what AUK students need within the framework of an academic institution like AUK, especially after Covid-19. “It’s important to care for students’ mental health post-COVID-19 because mental health is related to all aspects of an individual’s life and can affect our everyday interactions and experiences. During COVID-19 students were worried about the health of their loved ones as well as their own and were faced with the additional challenge of having to adapt quickly to an online educational system deprived of social interactions,” he stated.

The Counseling Center continues to have more collaborations with various departments and student clubs in AUK, and various organizations and experts in Kuwait who are prominent in the mental health field.

The Center ensures the University is equipped with adequate resources that the students’ physical and mental health requires by providing counseling, disability accommodations, coaching, therapy sessions and opportunities, and adequate clinical support for minor illnesses and injuries. 
 

  

Dr. Georges Chedid, director of the AUK Counseling Center
 
 

General photo of workshop
 
 

General photo of workshop

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