Since 1919

The Prairie News

Since 1919

The Prairie News

Since 1919

The Prairie News

Healthy body, Healthy Mind: WT offers services to help students succeed

While getting back into the groove of college and independent living can be fun and exciting, there will be some moments that are stressful. This is where the programs and student resources that WT has developed come into play.

Healthy Body

With stress comes sickness. This is why students need to know the services that the Student Medical Services can provide.

SMS offers free services. Well, technically not free because the fees have already been paid through students’ tuition under the health fee. However, if X-rays, diagnostic tests, injections or procedures are needed, there may be a small charge that students will have to pay. The reason that SMS can’t offer these for free is because the money given to them from the Students Medical Fee only covers office visits, not testing or other lab work.

If a student has a cold, he or she can go in to see the doctor for free and be told that he or she does in fact have a cold. If a student wants medicine to help alleviate the symptoms, he or she can ask for a prescription that will cost extra money.

The student will then have to go to Wal-Mart or some other pharmacy to pick up the prescription.

The prescriptions provided by the SMS are usually available at a lower price than if prescribed at a regular clinic. Additionally, crutches, splints and other medical equipment can be loaned or purchased through SMS.

The staff at SMS includes a board-certified family physician, a part-time orthopedic surgeon, two certified nurse practitioners, two registered nurses, and an X-ray technician. Nursing and medical students may also work in the clinic, but if the student feels more comfortable with a certain professional, he or she can request that person when they schedule their appointment.

SMS prefers that students schedule an appointment ahead of time so that the student can be seen as soon as possible and not have to wait for an available moment if they are a walk-in. Appointments can be scheduled online at or by calling the office at (806) 651-3287.

If a student has a cold and the appointment isn’t immediate, he or she can swing by the SMS office located in the Virgil Henson Activities Center, Room 104, to pick up a cold pack that will supply the student with Tylenol, a tea bag, and antihistamines to help until the scheduled appointment.

Healthy Mind

Stress also affects the relationships people have, lifestyle choices, and the way they choose to study or not to study.  WT offers a counseling program that will help students with temporary issues or career choices.

The Student Counseling Services offers a wide variety of programs that can be fine-tuned to help a student. The most basic is personal counseling.

Students are offered a maximum of 10 free personal counseling sessions through the school year. In these sessions, students sit with a certified counselor to discuss any issue bothering them from sexual identity issues to academic stress. The SCS also provides bio-feedback, couples counseling, pre-marital counseling, substance recovery group and other group sessions.

Personal counseling sessions are scheduled as needed. If students feel that after one session, things have been resolved, then they do not have to return for another session. If students and counselor agree that more sessions are needed, then future appointments can be planned.

During bio-feedback, students sit in a chair that monitors different aspects of the student’s behavior and nervous system. The feedback that is received is to be used to help a student learn to relax and ease out of stressful situations.

“Bio-therapy is a computer program that teaches you relaxation,” Leann Gables said, an SCS professional counselor. “It takes some measurements like temperature and heart rate from your body to tell you how your body is handling stress. It then teaches you some skills to lower your stress and anxiety.  It is unlimited sessions, in fact, you could come do it every single day, you don’t have to schedule an appointment.”

For couples counseling, only one member of the couple has to be a registered student at WT for the couple to be eligible for sessions. SCS also helps students to save money by providing them with the pre-marital counseling necessary in the state of Texas to waive a marriage license fee.

“The state of Texas has decided that if couples attend 10 sessions of pre-marital counseling, they can get the marriage license fee waived,” Gables said. “We offer that Thursdays at noon and at least once a semester we have an eight hour seminar to get it all taken care of.”

“This semester we have a new group session called ‘Healthy You’ just to show students that they aren’t the only person with anxiety, depression or whatever transitional issues they have,” Leo Reid said, an SCS professional counselor. “This is just to get a group of students together so they don’t walk around the hallway by themselves thinking they’re the only one with problems. It’s an open group and you can come as many times as you want.”

To become involved with “Healthy You”, students can sign up at SCS. The groups will meet Tuesdays from 3 to 4 PM.

Students must make appointments before coming in for services. Missed appointments without prior notification from the student are counted as one of the 10 free sessions that students receive.

The SCS is a confidential office that will not release any information to anyone, including a parent if the student is 18 or older, unless the student gives written permission.

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