The American River College counseling center is a place for students to succeed; even though it’s physically closed it still provides help remotely. However, it has been challenging for counselors to meet the needs of all students without being in person. 

Nisha Beckhorn, ARC dean of student services, counseling and transfer services, says the overall goal for the department is to provide a holistic approach to our service to students, so they can achieve their goals of completion and/or transfer.

Beckhorn says the pandemic changed the process of working with students remotely.

“During the pandemic, we created different ways students could contact the department: email, phone, and self-schedule appointments via a scheduling system,” Beckhorn said.

However, this process was not easy for all students. 

“I had a bad experience with the counseling center because my counselor was gone when I was trying to pick my classes and I did not know what classes to pick,” said Malik Shelby, a biology major at ARC. 

According to Beckhorn, the biggest challenge counselors had was to watch students struggle who needed face-to-face support in the midst of the pandemic. 

Although the counseling center is not open, its staff now offer on-ground service through the Welcome and Support Center, according to the ARC Website. 

“Students are connected with the First-Year Experience program counselors when they begin their first year at ARC,” Beckhorn said. “They can work with coaches and counselors and the rest of the FYE team.” 

The counseling center also supports students who would like to transfer, along with the transfer department.

This allows students to meet with their counselors to go over their goals and majors to ensure they are on the right track, according to Beckhorn. 

“The transfer department offers many workshops and connections with 4-year representatives from universities,” Beckhorn said. 

To make an appointment with the counseling center click the link here.