Mental Health Accessibility at Fresno City College

Story By: Christianna Schiotis, Reporter

September 13, 2023

Psychology services can be located next to the canvas with positive messages, outside of room SC-216, which also has pamphlets with additional resources on Sept. 13.

A few students at Fresno City College feel that mental health resources aren’t easily accessible on campus, so they created Harmony Minds Collective Club (HMCC).

“When I first came here, I found that I didn’t have a safe space on campus to discuss these issues,” Rose Adkins, the founder and president of HMCC said.

Students can visit psychology service’s website for more information or to “start a conversation,” according to Michael Reda, a Clinical Postdoctoral Fellow at Fresno City College.

There are resources for students at the kiosks and there are QR codes around campus, there is also a table located outside of the psychology room. However, students still struggle to access mental health resources.

“There are a lot of resources out there, but it’s hard to get them all in one place, you have to ask a lot of different people,” Adkins said.

FCC’s Psychological Services offers group counseling, individual counseling, assessments for ADHD and couples therapy given that both participants are enrolled.

Reda encourages group therapy, as some students may struggle reaching out to professionals.

“I love that there is a student-run group that is coming together in order to just be their own support when they are finding support from the various systems within the college,” Reda said.

The club helps by having a safe space for students to share experiences and those who are struggling to reach out.

According to Reda, psychological services offer different services each semester depending on the theme of struggles that students are facing and try their best to implement new programs to help those students.

Flyers outside of displaying psychological services room at Fresno City College on Sept. 13. (Photo by: Sara Ohler)

Reda noticed this semester’s themes are students struggling to balance having classes on both campuses, enrollment numbers climbing and classrooms being full for the first time since COVID-19.

Since Adkins wants to be a foundation for students, she would like to be a support system for students wanting to join.

“I kinda want to be a resource directory to all the different resources, including the ones we provide,” Adkins said.

For students who need help and can’t access the psychologists on campus, they are sent to W. Gary Cannon Psychological Service Center, where they can get 10 free sessions of therapy.

For students who are suffering from a crisis experience, students will hear back from someone in the psychology department within 24 hours, according to Reda.

This semester, the psychology department has started group therapy sessions: Asian and American, process group, anxiety toolbox, LGBTQ+ support group and compassion group. All group sessions will be located in SC-216. For more information call 559.443.8687.

All club sessions will be on Thursdays from 4 p.m to 5 p.m in SS-110.

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About the Contributors

Christianna Schiotis, Managing Editor

Christianna Schiotis is an 19-year-old who loves the color pink, dinosaurs, and Randy Marsh; paired with that she has childish humor and enjoys a good joke. She graduated in 2023 from Sanger High School with plenty of merit and awards. This is Schiotis’s third semester with the Rampage; this semester she is fulfilling the Managing Editor and Production Manager role. Her position as Managing Editor includes helping the Editor in Chief out wherever needed and learning leadership skills. As the Production Manager she oversees and helps with the design of the print. In her time at the Rampage, she has helped win numerous awards. She won two fourth place awards in the on the spot competitions: front page layout and copy editing test. The front page layout consisted of designing a front page from scratch and the copy editing was a 100 question AP style quiz that had to be done in under 30 minutes. She also helped win two first place plaques: one in social media and the other for an on site video competition. Both were a collaborative effort with other staff members. Schiotis took journalism classes for two of her high school years. In her first year, she was the Photo Editor. Also in her first year, she was in charge of her school's Arts and Literary magazine, which got tenth in the nation at NSPA’s journalism conference. For her Senior year, she was her high school’s newspaper's Editor in Chief, where she led a group of 23 students. During her time, she made her mark and her story got third in the nation. She will forever brag about it. She is also very thankful for the experience and the amazing staff she had. Schiotis also has her own pets who she spoils- her cats Mocha and Haly and puppy Azura. She loves to spend time with her best friend of nine years and her boyfriend of five years. She grew up in Fresno with her three siblings, all younger than her. She is going to do something in the journalism field, but doesn’t know what yet.

Sara Ohler, Opinion Editor

Sara Ohler is a 24 year-old journalism major who was born and raised in Fresno, CA. After graduating high school in 2017, she didn't know what she wanted to spend her time studying. She decided to take time off of college, but still wanted to pursue education and went on to become an esthetician. After a few years, she didn't feel challenged within her practice anymore and craved something more, so she decided she would go back to college. She initially joined the Rampage on a whim, and became an editor in her first semester and is now the editor-in-chief in her third semester. She feels lucky and grateful to have jumped on this opportunity when she did. Sara's passion for writing started around the age of 8, which stemmed from her love of reading. A few years later she would discover a passion for photography. She wrote in her high school newspaper and loved it and she feels lucky to have been given the opportunity to experience what writing for a publication is like. Though she hasn't decided which university she would like to go to, she plans on transferring to one with a good journalism program where she can dive in to the realm of investigative journalism, photojournalism and music journalism. She has quite a few different hobbies, but you will most likely catch her photographing concerts, reading in a local cafe, or playing Dungeons and Dragons with her pals.

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Mental Health Accessibility at Fresno City College

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