One of the support groups, Balanced Mind, is held Tuesdays from 2 to 3 p.m. The goal of this therapy group is to give students the tools and support they need to prepare them for the future. This group focuses on anxiety and depression and welcomes students who wish to seek support for other struggles they may face.

Balanced Mind is a safe area and requires that students meet with a WSC counselor before attending the meetings. Students must express their interest in the support group to the counselor they meet with.

“Our goal is to prepare them,” licensed counselor Tabetha Waggoner said. “Allow them to learn how to live with their symptoms effectively so that they can be successful in their academics and other aspects of their life as well.”

The other support group gives students the opportunity to seek support specifically in the LGBTQI+ community. The LGBTQI+ support group meets Mondays from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.

“The LGBTQI+ is a support group. Students in that community can come and receive support from other people within that community,” Waggoner said. “At the meetings, I will explore the different clinical things that they might be experiencing.”

Waggoner said the therapy and the support groups are safe places for people who wish to seek help and find a community. Everything shared in the group is confidential. She said therapy isn’t supposed to be life-long. Therapy is there to give people the tools they need and understand in order to grow and turn to their support systems.

The director of counseling, Alicia Dorcey, developed the support and therapy groups. Dorcey hoped to place the meetings in the Kanter Student Center. Her mission was to have students create their support systems with one another.

“I love group therapy. I just think college students need to connect with other people,” Dorcey said. “If we can get them to connect with each other, that’s probably going to be more affective. Group therapy has a lot of research that says it works. So, it just makes sense on a college campus.”

Wayne State College student Sierra Travis said she first heard about the groups from her boyfriend who saw it advertised on Instagram.

“I think [the group] is great and helps end the stigma behind mental health and allows for fellowship,” Travis said.