The transition from high school to college is not always easy, and that’s why Baker University offers resources for students who may be struggling. Dr. Tim Hodges, Director of the counseling center, and University of Kansas graduate students provide therapy and counseling for Baker students at the campus counseling center. These appointments are free, easy to schedule, and positively impactful for college aged individuals.
The yellow counseling center is located at 519 Grove st., right across from the Collins Gym parking lot. They are open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays. Graduate students are available during more flexible hours of the day so appointments can be made before or after hours to accommodate all students.
The center provides therapy on many different topics like anxiety, depression, stress, drama, relationship difficulties, suicidal ideation, and much more. They also provide multiple different assessments to help students better understand themselves.
Personality tests and values tests can give individuals a type of ‘psychological x-ray’ to allow them to comprehend who they are, why they are and how they can heal the most naturally. Along with individual counseling, the center also offers couples counseling, group counseling and consultations.
Hodges obtained a doctorate in clinical psychology and has been a practicing psychologist for the past 40 years. The last 15 of those 40 years, Baker has been to have Hodges serve on campus. Also on staff this semester are eight KU graduate students.
Hodges wants to reassure Baker students that seeing a graduate student does not mean lesser help; all are qualified and personally supervised by Hodges himself. Satisfaction ratings with graduate students are nothing less than stellar, and the help they provide is equally as impactful.
“One of the reasons counseling is so important for your generation is because you are the most perfectionist generation in history, which just means you put a lot of pressure on yourself,” Hodges said. “You are the most socially anxious generation, and America is the most anxious country.”
Hodges elaborates on that idea and shares that performance anxiety is one of the most common aspects students seek help for here at Baker. The constant need for perfection and the pressure students feel with that can be debilitating. Hodges has personal experience in this topic, and it’s a large part of why he is where he is now.
“I got into this business because I was a neurotic tennis player, both of my brothers were state champs and I felt so much pressure, and when I got to college my coach was a psychologist and he helped me get out of my head,” Hodges said.
Through this personal experience and the experiences he has witnessed, Hodges understands the importance of therapy for college-aged individuals and has a passion for helping. His mission here at Baker is to guide students to be “fully alive” and authentically represent themselves.
“Being fully alive is t0 be your best self one out of four people have a mental illness, and that misrepresents you. If you’re too anxious to go to a party with your friends, that misrepresents you, that’s not you. I think they should be able to fully be who they are and not let mental illness get in the way,” Hodges said.
To make an appointment at the Baker University Counseling Center, call Sherri Pahcoddy, Counseling Center Coordinator, at 785-594-8409 or email her at [email protected].
