By Michael Pardo
Getting help can be challenging. For many students at Bergen Community College, the idea of seeking counseling during stressful times often comes as an afterthought. Some students may feel they don’t have the time to seek help, while others may believe their problems aren’t ’serious enough’ to warrant counseling. However, the Counseling Department is here to assist students in addressing any challenges they may face. We spoke with Jessica Peacock, one of Bergen’s personal counselors, to learn more about the services the department offers and why she believes students shouldn’t hesitate to stop by.
Peacock has been a counselor for seven years and has always been drawn to helping others. Before joining BCC, she worked in prevention and awareness programs addressing domestic violence and sexual assault. This background shapes her approach to supporting students today. She believes students are a particularly vulnerable group due to the many responsibilities they juggle.
“They’re not just coming to class. There’s so much going on in the background that can get in the way,” she explained, reflecting on the barriers students face in pursuing their education. Her passion lies in supporting individuals who have experienced violence, and her training is focused on helping those who have endured trauma.
Giving students a safe space to talk is a paramount goal for Peacock, and trust is an important part of that safety. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (L.C.S.W.), she is a mental health professional and therefore keeps conversations between herself and students completely confidential.
“The only thing that would require me to ever report, was if someone told me they were actively suicidal, they were actively homicidal, or if it’s a current case of child abuse,” she says.
There are those that come to see her who are dealing with disabilities, food insecurity, and others who seek guidance dealing with past or even ongoing abuse. While she keeps the details of these traumas private, they inform her about what students are going through and how it can snuff out the passion that they have. She wants to prevent that as much as possible. To Peacock, it is fulfilling to help students work out their problems and watch them reach their potential.
“The reason I got into counseling in higher education was because I saw the passion and I saw the want,” she says, “and I saw education being this one thing that could never be taken away from someone and how much empowerment someone felt from the act of learning and acquiring degrees, and the dopamine rush like when we can finish something and get through a course, and I also saw the barriers that presented from that.”
Making a student feel comfortable and safe are goals that Peacock strives for. During an average session with a student, she finds it important to have an ongoing dialogue. She talks about her day, asks the student about theirs, and finds other ways to break the ice. Then she asks some questions about how the student is feeling in relation to the reason they came in. If someone says that they are feeling depressed, then they start with that. These questions give Peacock a snapshot of the mental space of the person she is helping.
These sessions often start with students coming into her office with struggles being academic in nature but then veer much deeper as they delve into what is getting in the way of them getting them to class. They discuss their anxieties, how they are dealing with loss, or feeling suicidal. Over the course of the session, Peacock discusses how often they would like to meet based on their needs. She builds a relationship with students and forms a routine they can work on. This approach is not uncommon in therapy. Studies show that building a routine filled with healthy habits and realistic goals can tread a path to progress that feels tangible to those suffering with depression.
Peacock understands how some students may be apprehensive about seeking help and acknowledges that there is still a stigma surrounding therapy. She recognizes that multiple intersecting factors in a person’s life, at a macro level, can affect how accessible counseling is to them. For example, someone who is an uninsured, first-generation college student struggling to put food on the table may face more challenges than someone whose family has attended college and is employed. These circumstances can create barriers to seeking help.
“Yeah, I think there’s still a stigma, she says. “It’s different when someone says, ‘I have high blood pressure and I take medication’ versus ‘I have depression and I take medication.’”
She goes on to say, “I still think there can be unconscious reactions and biases, and that’s all based on who we are as individuals, how we understand medication, mental health, how we label it, and how we describe it. The act of reaching out for help, the act of talking about things, that’s all based on that person and what makes them who they are.”
Peacock says that if someone is finally ready to see a counselor, they should find “someone who represents safety and unconditional acceptance” based on how they perceive them—someone who will accept them where they are, without judgment, and is ready to listen.
She believes that in order to combat stigma, it must come from the ground up. As a personal counselor, she can do all she can to bring attention to her resources, but people have to want help. She feels that students who care about bringing awareness to personal counseling or seeking therapy have to make these resources known and obvious. Whether that be through student government, bringing guests, or clubs holding speaking events, people often only see a path when it is shown to them.
“Getting students engaged to decrease stigma has to come from the snapshot of students that are here,” she says.
Peacock doesn’t take what she does lightly. She bears witness to some of the darkest and hardest moments of students’ lives. The fact that someone can be truly vulnerable and open with her is something remarkable—something she and every counselor cherish.
“I do what I do for a reason,” she says. “I believe in what I do, and I believe in the philosophy behind counseling, but it’s really more so the fact that there’s so much courage behind someone trusting me. You know, and even just coming in to say I’m having a rough day. To then find out that that person went through a breakup, [or] that person was sexually assaulted a month ago. There’s a lot of privilege in that… you’re not just a student to us. You’re a person with a set of things that’s going on behind the scenes that no one really has insight to other than you.”
