When I first became faculty, my mom used to love to say to me, “it’s almost finals!” She’d say this as though being this close to finals felt … good—when in reality, as faculty, it usually meant for me the beginning of massive amounts of work, under time constraints, right before a whole bunch of holidays (and, for me, my son’s mid-December birthday). In my experience, the marathon-length semester becomes, in these next 10 days, a super-duper breathless sprint.

It’s a tricky paradox to navigate—just as our students’ lives are about to become easier, ours are, temporarily, becoming more difficult.

As much as I don’t want to offer bromides about self-care for faculty and staff who are teaching this semester, I do want to acknowledge the mad rush you’re entering—and say that I hope you’re also able to enjoy seeing the proof of your good work in the assignments and exams and final projects that students complete; that you’re able to build in rewards for grading (chocolate or carrot sticks or an expensive coffee for every class entered on time into DUSIS); and that you’ll have time for regeneration during the season ahead.

I also want to remind us all that our students’ collective mental health challenges this fall may very well amplify at the close of the semester.  Many of us will need to breathe deeply, and offer them appropriate assistance. To that end, and as we look toward spring (yes, already), I want to offer a greeting from Kayla Bell-Consolver, the new director of the Student Counseling Center. Kayla and I, along with Dean of Students Hannah Clayborne, have had some promising preliminary conversations about how to support faculty and staff in supporting our students. We have some plans shaking for spring … until then, please read this message, and feel introduced to a new colleague poised to help. Kayla writes:

Greetings,

My name is Kayla Bell-Consolver (she/her/hers) and I am the new Director of the Student Counseling Center. I received both my B.S in Psychology in 2016 and M.S in Clinical Mental Health Counseling in 2019 from Drake University. It brings me great joy to return to Drake in a role I am very passionate about. As a student and professional, I am aware that there may be hesitancy in sending students to the counseling center due to historical experiences and concerns on if their needs would be met. I am very devoted to exploring strategies and implementing programming with our counselors to enhance the quality and quantity of services we provide.

My current focuses are to enhance the quality and access to equitable mental health services for our students of color, suicide prevention and postvention for at risk students, and continue to systemically target mental health concerns in collaboration with the university. To learn more about our counseling center staff, please navigate to Meet Our Staff | Drake University. If you are interested in learning more about the resources that we provide, please navigate to Counseling & Services | Drake University. Through our efforts, I look forward to collaborating with you and learning more from you to best support the mental health needs prevalent on campus.

Kayla Bell-Consolver, LMHC, MS
Director, Drake University Student Counseling Center 
(She, Her, Hers)

— Renée Cramer, Deputy Provost