By Andrés Roa   

The end of the semester can be challenging, but there are resources available for UMD students looking for help.

Some resources, like the University of Maryland’s Counseling Center, are available to students whenever the university is open and can be an asset to those who are finding the end of the semester difficult, said Theodore Pickett Jr., the associate director of the Counseling Center. 

Among other services, the center offers  individual therapy, group therapies focusing on various topics including group therapy, an LGBT support group, and same-day urgent consultations where students “can be seen within…30 minutes to an hour,” Pickett said. 

Those services are available to all UMD students at no cost. The services are for everyone, whether or not they have certain mental health concerns, he said.

“Generally speaking, the major two concerns that we see from students is anxiety and depression,” Pickett said. “It doesn’t have to be some major mental health concern in that way.”

Mental health is one aspect where students can look for help, but there are also options when it comes to their academic work.

University of Maryland Writing Center Director Vessela Valiavitcharska said that the Writing Center is happy to look at any project, in any stage “as long as the project involves writing.”

Valiavitcharska emphasized that the Writing Center can help with many questions students might have but made clear that it is geared to provide students with the tools to do the work themselves.

“We do not edit and proofread papers,” Valiavitcharska said, “we guide [students] through the process.”

If students need help with presenting, the Oral Communication Center at UMD is ready to help.

“The services we provide are more of a holistic approach of the presentational lifecycle,” said Raphael Mazzone, the director of the Oral Communication Center. 

This holistic approach includes helping students — who the Oral Communication Center calls “clients” — with outlining, transitions, introductions, conclusions and every other aspect that comes with an oral presentation. 

“There’s a lot of different things with respect to the presentation process that we focus on. For the most part, the students come in, they know what they want to work on,” said Mazzone.

The Writing Center and the Oral Communications Center are staffed by UMD students, so they don’t offer official services during finals week, and appointments may be filled in the last days of the semester.

Still, Mazzone said the Oral Communications Center sometimes receives emails from students and are able to respond and advise them in a limited capacity even when no appointments are available.

Valiavitcharska advised students to check the Writing Center website often because students sometimes cancel appointments.

There was a consensus among the three directors of each service, that planning at the beginning of the semester and throughout the semester are effective ways for students to take a holistic approach to their wellbeing, both in mental health and academics.

The most important thing to remember, according to Pickett, is for students to know there is help out there.

“There’s a lot of people on campus who are, you know, committed to helping students and who have the knowledge, the skill set, you know, as part of their sort of responsibilities to help students in those areas,” said Pickett.

Featured image: A student does work in front of McKeldin Library. Photo by Emily Condon.