{"id":1249,"date":"2022-03-08T18:29:11","date_gmt":"2022-03-08T23:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tsc.edu\/news-and-events\/?p=1249"},"modified":"2022-03-08T18:29:11","modified_gmt":"2022-03-08T23:29:11","slug":"tsc-counselor-ready-to-improve-student-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tsc.edu\/news-and-events\/2022\/03\/08\/tsc-counselor-ready-to-improve-student-mental-health\/","title":{"rendered":"TSC counselor ready to improve student mental health"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"float: right;margin-left: 10px;margin-bottom: 10px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-757\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tsc.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/TSC-Counselor-Mario-Garcia-300x200-1.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/div>\n<p>The well-being of every student, from safety to mental health, is a priority of Texas Southmost College. With the stressors of today, especially during a pandemic, TSC\u2019s newest Counselor and Accessibility Manager Mario Garcia wants every student to know his door is always open. <\/p>\n<p>With only two weeks on the job, the Harlingen resident has already hit the ground running ensuring that students get the help they need to finish Scorpion Strong. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese students are our future,\u201d he said. \u201cIn college, I wish I had someone to speak with, someone who could guide me and listen to my struggles with daily pressures, so that\u2019s why I\u2019m here. I want to be that support and guidance I wish I had.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to recent college student surveys from the American College Health Association, about 60% of respondents said they felt overwhelming anxiety, while 40% experienced depression that made it difficult to function.<\/p>\n<p>According to the same surveys, the top five mental health problems faced by American college students today are: depression, anxiety, suicide, eating disorders and addiction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy goal is to teach our students coping and problem-solving skills that can lead to solutions that allow them to keep moving forward,\u201d said Garcia. \u201cWith mental illness on the rise across the nation, it\u2019s important that we face these problems head on together. No one is alone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Garcia went through a few struggles of his own as a college student, primarily because he lacked a clear path to follow. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI relate in a lot of ways to these students,\u201d he said. \u201cFor me that\u2019s important. I want them to know I understand the issues. I\u2019ve been there and done that, but there is hope and there is a bright future. They\u2019ve got my support, our support.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Before earning his bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees in 1999 and 2005, respectively, in Clinical Psychology from the University of Texas-Pan American, now the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps and deployed to Somalia for Operation Restore Hope. He served for four years. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was a time of discovery, as was college,\u201d he said. \u201cI went from wanting to become a nurse to becoming a licensed professional counselor, a path that has served me well and helped me serve our community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Garcia worked with Tropical Texas Behavioral Health for nearly two decades working in the areas of substance abuse and children and adult mental health. He also worked in the criminal justice system as a screener, skills trainer and therapist.<\/p>\n<p>He went on to work with Su Cl\u00ednica for a year and half before joining the TSC family. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis has turned out to be the most rewarding career,\u201d said Garcia. \u201cSeeing people have that \u2018aha\u2019 moment and realizing for themselves the changes they need to make is success. There can be no change if it isn\u2019t discovered by ourselves, only then can true change or healing happen and that\u2019s what I hope to bring to our students.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>TSC students can visit the Counseling and Student Accessibility Resources office at the Lightener Center, room 102A or call 956-295-3587.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The well-being of every student, from safety to mental health, is a priority of Texas Southmost College. With the stressors of today, especially during a pandemic, TSC\u2019s newest Counselor and Accessibility Manager Mario Garcia wants every student to know his door is always open. With only two weeks on the job, the Harlingen resident has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":158,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.7 (Yoast SEO v26.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>TSC counselor ready to improve student mental health - News and Events<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With the stressors of today, TSC\u2019s newest Counselor and Accessibility Manager Mario Garcia wants students to know his door is always open.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tsc.edu\/news-and-events\/2022\/03\/08\/tsc-counselor-ready-to-improve-student-mental-health\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TSC counselor ready to improve student mental health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With the stressors of today, TSC\u2019s newest Counselor and Accessibility Manager Mario Garcia wants students to know his door is always open.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.tsc.edu\/news-and-events\/2022\/03\/08\/tsc-counselor-ready-to-improve-student-mental-health\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News and Events\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-08T23:29:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.tsc.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/TSC-Counselor-Mario-Garcia-300x200-1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tsc.edu\/news-and-events\/2022\/03\/08\/tsc-counselor-ready-to-improve-student-mental-health\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tsc.edu\/news-and-events\/2022\/03\/08\/tsc-counselor-ready-to-improve-student-mental-health\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"TSC counselor ready to improve student mental health\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-08T23:29:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tsc.edu\/news-and-events\/2022\/03\/08\/tsc-counselor-ready-to-improve-student-mental-health\/\"},\"wordCount\":532,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tsc.edu\/news-and-events\/2022\/03\/08\/tsc-counselor-ready-to-improve-student-mental-health\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.tsc.edu\/news-and-events\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/03\/TSC-Counselor-Mario-Garcia-300x200-1.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.tsc.edu\/news-and-events\/2022\/03\/08\/tsc-counselor-ready-to-improve-student-mental-health\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2022\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tsc.edu\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tsc.edu\/news-and-events\/2022\/03\/08\/tsc-counselor-ready-to-improve-student-mental-health\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.tsc.edu\/news-and-events\/2022\/03\/08\/tsc-counselor-ready-to-improve-student-mental-health\/\",\"name\":\"TSC counselor ready to improve student mental health - 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