By Gunner Young/reporter

A NW counselor asked students what could be done to improve counseling services on campus at the Mental Health Forum on March 1.

Brentom Jackson talked with a small group of students about the importance of mental health but also asked for students to share their experiences with the counseling services on campus.

“One of the ideas behind this [panel] is to change the culture around mental health that’s happening here at TCC,” Jackson said.

The main point of the panel was to assess what students thought about the current counseling services that are available to them and how they can improve.

“One-in-five students are experiencing or developing mental health issues,” Jackson said. “If we just guess the amount of students that are having mental health issues compared to the amount of students who utilize health services here on campus, we know there is a discrepancy there.”

Student participation was a big part of the panel, and it gave students a chance to speak their mind about mental health issues.

NW student Sam Finney recalled her previous experiences with the counseling services on campus.

“I didn’t actually realize that there were people trained to help with mental health in the advising department,” Finney said. “After this panel, I’d probably utilize it if I felt the need to.”

NW student Princess Castaneda spoke about the impact mental health had on their peers, and how an improved counseling department would aid them in overcoming it.

“I think that’s why it’s hard for people to go to counseling,” Castaneda said. “They think that if they go, they are accepting that part of them, and people don’t want to do that.”

Jackson left students with some advice, and told them to find a way to live in the moment.

“Being in the present moment, you realize there’s no real threat,” Jackson said. “There’s an opportunity to change. We, in society, have become more human doings than of human beings.”