NEMCC partners with Region IV to provide mental health services to students

BOONEVILLE, MISS. (WCBI) – Making the transition from high school to college can be tough. And experts say it’s even worse for many students, in the wake of the Covid 19 related lockdowns and isolation.

One local community college is partnering with a mental health agency to help students who need long-term counseling, and it’s at no cost to the student.

Trey Rogers was a student at NEMCC when he changed his major because of some personal issues he was struggling with.

“I started out as an agriculture major, after the first semester I was going through a lot of stress and a bunch of different changes, and my general psych teacher, being the people they were, made me realize I was in the wrong major and switched to psychology,” Rogers said.

Now, Rogers is a therapist with Region IV Mental Health Services and he will be working on campus to help students at NEMCC, dealing with a wide range of issues.

“Adjusting from high school to college, adjusting from living at home to dorm life, high stress from college load, or just history of trauma they’ve never had a chance to work through, different things like that,” Rogers said.

The counseling service provided through Region IV is possible because of a grant from the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration.  It is the first time Region IV has partnered with a community college to provide on-site, long-term counseling.

“It’s extremely important, especially coming off of the isolation, loneliness, withdrawal, depression, impacted by Covid 19,” said Nikki Tapp, clinical director at Region IV.

For now, the grant provides a counselor from Region IV a day and a half every week, on campus.  But the director of counseling services for NEMCC believes that will be expanded, because of the need.

“I see students every day, it does turn into long term in the past because students couldn’t afford counseling on their own, but there are other obligations in counseling services, so this will help to alleviate, to free up some other therapy provided by counselors and provide long therapy provided by therapists,” said Leigh Ann Stewart, director of counseling services at NEMCC.

Students are referred to Revion IV therapists by NEMCC’s counseling services.

Students at NEMCC have been told how to request the counseling service provided through Region IV.