2008 Woodie Awards
On the record: An interview with Gaither Terrell
Ben Kelly
Issue date: 2/11/05 Section: News
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Guilfordian: What job did you have before you came here?
Terrell: I was working in the business world as a counselor in an
employee assistance program. It's like a counseling center in a business
where your clients are employees. I worked a lot with depression,
anxiety, relationship issues.
Guilfordian: Do you think your prior experience as a counselor will
transfer?
Terrell: Oh yeah, yeah.
Guilfordian: Will you be counseling students yourself?
Terrell: Yes.
Guilfordian: Have you worked with young adults in the past?
Terrell: Not college age, but many of the employees I worked with in
the last 14 years in that job were young adults, in the 22-42 age group.
A lot of the same issues apply in terms of stress, depression, those
types of things.
Guilfordian: Do you think that age-group is particularly susceptible to
problems?
Terrell: Well, yes, I think it's an exciting time in a person's life, but I
also think there's a lot of vulnerability because of all the changes ...
there's a lot of growth, but it's also very stressful.
Guilfordian: What problems do college students typically have?
Terrell: Depression, anxiety about a variety of issues, relationship
issues, eating disorders, sexuality issues, substance abuse issues. And
of course at a college there are a lot of issues about identity, about
separating from your family and developing your own person. A lot of
times it's the most stressful situation a person has been in and they don't
having the coping mechanisms to deal with the stress. Sometimes that's
what we'll talk about, how to develop better coping mechanisms.
Guilfordian: But sometimes a coping mechanism can actually cause
more stress?
Terrell: Absolutely. Sometimes when we're under stress we use ways of
coping that end up causing their own stress. Drinking is a good
example because you use alcohol to cope with stress, but it actually
causes more problems. You've got the hangover, the behavior you got
into when you were drinking, these things cause stress you wouldn't
have had otherwise.
Guilfordian: So what are some healthier coping mechanisms?
Terrell: I think boundaries are an important coping mechanism.
Boundaries are how involved we allow ourselves to be in other people's
lives. If you get over-involved, and take responsibility for what's going
on in other people's lives. Then you're taking on another person's
stress. And that's not to say you don't care about people, and that's a
real issue for people to work out -- how do you care about someone
without taking on their problem.
Guilfordian: As a counselor that must be something you have to worry
about all the time, because you're always listening to other people's
problems. Where do you draw the boundary?
Terrell: I struggled with other people's problems earlier in my career. I
know that if I go home and find myself thinking, really ruminating about
somebody, I know that I have to think about the boundaries there. For
me, it's real important to try and not take it home with me.
Guilfordian: Can you describe how you would treat a student over the
course of several months?
Terrell: It's hard to say ... I really try to go in the direction the person
needs me. In general, the process would be about listening, and helping
the person to think through as they talk and answer questions. People
come in with a lot on their minds, but they're not really sure how all the
pieces fit together until we sit and talk. None of the counselors are here
to preach. It's more of an exploration process. Probably one of the
biggest problems people have treating their issues is that they don't
want to go see a counselor, because of the stigma associated with
psychological problems.
Guilfordian: What do you think is the best way to get students to
overcome these feelings?
Terrell: I'm glad you asked that. I think my first task is to do just that,
to make us more visible and more approachable, and reach out to the
students. I'm hoping to meet with students in various ways ... for
instance, residence hall meetings, clubs. I just talked with a student
about going to the Tea and Talk next week to do a presentation. If
people see the counselors as real people, I think it's less intimidating.
Guilfordian: You mentioned suicide earlier. Guilford's counseling center
has been criticized by students, especially in reference to their handling
of suicide attempts. What do you think is the best way to treat a suicidal
student?
Terrell: I can't really comment on how it's been done in the past,
because I don't really know how it's been handled ... We've got to deal
with the person who's attempting to commit suicide depending on the
unique situation-how severe the attempt was, what the family situation is
like. It's hard to make a blanket statement. I think that we also have to
be careful to try to help the people around the student who are
involved. Those people often have problems, trying to help, or thinking
they should have done more, or that they have done the wrong thing.
Guilfordian: If a student hasn't come into the health center herself, but
has been hinting that she might be suicidal, how would you handle that?
Terrell: A suicidal person might tell a friend 'Don't tell anybody,' but
that's not really fair to the friend. You could come confidentially to (the
counseling center) to talk about someone else. My advice is, if you're
concerned about a friend, come here and talk to us, and certainly
encourage them [the suicidal person] to talk to somebody.
Guilfordian: Would you contact the at-risk student?
Terrell: You know, it would really depend on what you told me. In
general I would be nervous to, unless I thought the person was really a
danger. But if I heard something that made me think the student was
really a danger, then I would consider it important enough. I wouldn't
want to be intrusive, but that only goes so far as somebody's safety.
Guilfordian: Do you have any ideas about talking about Guilford
students who have committed suicide more openly?
Terrell: I think we need to look for some forums for that, I'm certainly
open to suggestions. I think anytime there's a traumatic event there's a
need to process it. Talking about it helps us get through it. The other
thing that comes into play is confidentiality of the people involved, which
complicates everything.
Guilfordian: What do you think is the most important issue for the
counseling center?
Terrell: The biggest issue in my mind is no matter what a student's
problem might be-it could be any one of the things we've mentioned or
something else-for him or her to know that there's people in this
community that are here to try and make them feel better.
