Hello, everyone.

During this segment will be highlighting the multifaceted Pirates Care Student Resource Center.

It's a one stop shop providing free resources for PSC students.

To discuss this further, I'm happy to welcome Veronica Jennings, wellness services director.

She's joined by sensorium McCord, PSC mental health services specialist.

But ladies, someone you know has something to say.

We're going to hear from Doctor Lindsay.

List down, executive director of Equal Opportunity Compliance.

And she's going to give us a tour of some of the specific areas.

Let's take a look.

This is our Pirate's Care Campus career closet, where students can come and at no cost, they're able to receive free business casual and professional clothing that they can use for internships, for job interviews.

For the current employment that they have, or just to have close to where we know a lot of our students are searching for their first jobs, or they might have to work full time while they're in school.

And so this gives them the opportunity to get free professional clothing that they can wear for their internships and their jobs.

So we have clothing for men and for women that have been graciously donated by the community and by faculty and staff on campus, so students can come and get really nice name brand items and then be able to use those to get their future jobs.

We even have things like ties and belts and bags and shoes, so really they can come and get items that will have them dressed from head to toe for those great interviews.

Another resource that we have for students is our campus Food pantry, which is located on every single one of our Pensacola State College campuses.

In the food pantry, students are able to come and get free nonperishable food items that we get amazing donations from the community, and also have a partnership with manna, who provide our food bags that give families food for 5 to 7 days, and students are able to get food for their entire family, which is one of the really unique things about our program.

So if a student has a family of four, we provide them with food for their entire family.

The other great thing is that we also have household and hygiene items, which is something that a lot of pantries don't have.

So students are able to choose up to five household and hygiene items each time they come to visit the pantry to take and have for their families.

All of this, again, is offered at no cost to any of our currently enrolled students.

The great thing is, is that we actually have our campus career closets on multiple campuses, including our Milton Campus Century, and over at Warrington, where you can get health related field items as well.

This is our student lounge area, where students can come in between classes to charge their phones, to get a snack, to just relax, and then we also have a really nice, family friendly space on campus as well, where our students that are parents can bring their children while they're meeting with our staff to get resources, or even while they're here doing online classes, studying, doing their homework in our mini computer lab that we have available in our resource center, as well.

Ladies, wasn't that amazing?

Veronica, I know you love doctor less now I do.

Wonderful woman.

So one of the things I want to discuss with you, and I know our viewing audience is interested in financial coaching, because don't we have students that have issues with money management?

We do.

And that's part of the services that we offer in the resource center is financial coaching.

And a lot of what we do is help students manage the money that they're currently having.

Help them increase their income and then budget out what they have and just kind of help them reach their financial goals.

Have you ever heard stories of students amassing large credit card debt?

Yes.

A lot of times the students that we see do have credit card debt and we try to, help them manage that in terms of what it looks like going to school and managing their finances and paying off debt, and see what's feasible for very good salary for mental health counseling.

It's a multifaceted area, but one of the things I like about PSC that this can be done either in person via telehealth and it's all confidential.

Why don't you expand on that for us?

Yes, we do offer in-person and telehealth services.

The reason being is because we have multiple campuses here at Pensacola State College.

Specifically some of our students in the Milton campus century in South Santa Rosa.

They may not be able to come to campus or to receive counseling, or we may not be able to go to them.

So it's important to be able to offer that telehealth services so they could get that free, confidential service and receive the care that they need.

And Veronica, I love the word free.

Let it resonate in our minds forever.

Now.

Life coaching and mentoring.

You have an amazing personality, quite approachable.

So lay that out for our viewers.

Yeah, so life coaching comes by way of our wellness support specialists.

So they meet with the students and they help them to set goals and figure out a roadmap to set their goals, identify any kind of obstacles that would keep them from being successful in life and academically, and they help them with that as well.

And of course, I do some of that as well with the students.

So give us an example of what a mentor could do.

So one of the things a mentor could do is if a student has a heavy course load and they don't necessarily have the 30 skills that they need.

So a mentor could come in and say, hey, let's look at your schedule.

Let's see how we can manage your current schedule.

If there's any changes that we need to make, we can help them with study skills as well.

We can also talk to them about what's going on in their personal life, and is that affecting their course load as well.

And we'll kind of walk them through what goals need to be set to manage your life a little bit better so that you can be successful?

Because it's all about being successful academically and personally.

So true accessories.

Sometimes people may think that as the summer approaches that things could wipe down, but know things are ramping up for the Pirates Care Student Resource Center.

So cognitive behavioral therapy, that's an area that's also covered that you deal with.

Why don't you tell us what that is?

Yes.

So cognitive behavioral therapy is a it's a modality where if we could change the way you think, we could change the way you act.

So it's again that cognitive and behavioral piece.

So one of the things that I work with with the students is cognitive restructuring changing negative thoughts to positive thoughts.

And it's amazing to see how with that change in processing their thoughts, they can become better people in flourish, as they matriculate through school.

Now we also understand you have integrative play therapy.

Yes.

Any student who comes to the pars care area, they're often surprised that we have a bunch of little gadgets, fidget toys.

We have Plato.

We have, Philippe.

All this is to help them with their nerves.

In a sense, it's like a grounding technique.

We allow them to have it.

Oftentimes, they play with it as they're in session with us.

I have paint.

Please don't tell anyone.

Wife.

Okay, well, we want to paint in a few carpets, but, it's usually washable.

And I also have other little gadgets.

It helps them process their emotions in a way that they can express it on paper or with their hands.

I love that.

So, Veronica, dealing with case management, that's lofty.

Why don't you give us a little snippet?

So, Kate, with case management is personalized support for the students and is unique to each of our students.

So we go through and we get with the students and we see what type of obstacles they have.

Again, kind of like with the life coach and it kind of goes hand in hand.

So we look at what kind of obstacles that they're having in their life.

Let's set some goals around it so that you can feel empowered to overcome those obstacles.

And, flourish academically and personally.

And so in a lot of that is we meet on a weekly, bi weekly or monthly basis on student, the students can assess that schedule for them.

And so we provide check ins.

We help them get connected to resources.

So if they need any kind of resources, will help them with that and do whatever we can to help them be successful.

Because a lot of what we think is, if you're focused on what's going on outside of the classroom, if you can't be successful inside of the classroom to become the best versions of themselves.

And I know that you probably have a short example to share.

One thing I noticed a lot is, independence.

At this age, it's a matter of they're kind of trying to break out that that mold of being a child and grow into an adult.

So often times they have concerns related to that.

Oh, well, I can't afford this.

As Veronica was speaking about earlier, those financial literacy matters in regards to counseling it can relate to.

Okay, well, what can we do in order for you to get those things that you need?

Excellent examples ladies.

You are phenomenal and we love you so much.