After nearly three years of conversations with main campus administrators, the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law received a counselor.
Since moving from the U of M’s main campus to the old customs house on Front Street, law students have had no proper outlet to the relieve stress that accompanies law school, as a pilot program with a counselor failed due to parking issues. Since she left, students haven’t had access to a counselor since 2013 – well, unless they wanted to drive 30 minutes to main campus to use its services.
“As law students, we don’t have an hour in the day to drive all that way to receive counseling,” law student Hugh Cross said. “It just added to the stress we already have.”
As of last week, students now have access to counseling with Kim Collins, a counselor who works primarily on main campus but will assist at the law school one day a week.
“She’s had experience with law students before and wanted to do this, so that was really nice to have the counselor on board with the whole process,” Meredith Aden, the law school’s assistant dean for student affairs, said.
The final push to implement the counselor began with Cross, who is also the law school representative in the U of M’s student government association.
“We’ve had various speakers come and talk about the stress of law school, you can read books about the stress of law school – it’s almost cliché how stressful law school is,” Cross, said. “Just objectively, it has a notably rigorous curriculum. We needed to make it easier for students to access mental health resources.”
Cross spent his first year of school studying but watched as other students and faculty attempted to bring a counselor back to campus. His second year, he decided to join them.
Cross ran with the ReFresh Party last semester as the law school senator.
“The fact that the law school is separate from main campus just means we should be working harder to maintain transparency with one another,” Cross said.
At the student government’s first meeting of the semester, M. David Rudd, president of the U of M, opened the floor for any suggestions. Cross suggested a counselor for the law school.
Rudd’s suggested Cross submit a formal request citing four main reasons the law school needed a counselor: proximity, neutrality, class schedules and, most notably, “stress management and mental health.”
Rudd was receptive to the request and asked for the assistance of Aden and Jane Clement and director of counseling services.
“The school supported the idea of a counselor and the administration actively lobbied for it, but it was the involvement of the students that really pushed the issue forward,” Aden said.
In early September, the initiative was implemented when Collins was hired to offer counseling services each Wednesday to students at the law school.
“Having a counselor here is critical,” Aden said. “Stress and depression are very common in law students. It’s so important to provide students these services. Everyone has been extremely enthusiastic and excited.”
The counseling services will be part of a new initiative lead by the law school’s student government called Wellness Wednesday. Every Wednesday, a wellness related activity takes place on campus, such as healthy snack tutorials and yoga.
Now that the pieces are in place, law student should be much better equipped to handle the inevitable stresses and tribulations that come with studying law.
