Counseling for College Students in Mid-Missouri

You always looked forward to going to college and all of the freedom it would provide.  You had this picture in your head of finding the perfect group of friends (perhaps through a sport, club, or Greek life), confidently making choices for yourself without parents around to tell you what to do, and of course, taking classes in subjects that you actually care about. Now that you are here, college stress and…well…life stress is getting in the way.  The transition from high to college and then the transition from college to work post-graduation are often more difficult than a person anticipates. College is a unique period in a person’s life.  You are still establishing your own identity in the midst of pressure put on you by family, yourself, and society at large. You are expected to choose a future profession, navigate adult relationships and independently meet your own needs.  Counseling can give you a safe space to explore your feelings and help you overcome the challenges you face in college.

How Can Counseling Help Me?

Our caring therapists can help you tackle a variety of mental health concerns and grow through all of the life transitions you face as a young adult.  Here are just a few of the many mental health concerns that might bring college students into our Mid Missouri Counseling Clinic:

Trauma Therapy & PTSD Treatment

Whether you’ve been through a natural disaster in the past, are getting out of an abusive relationship, were sexually assaulted/raped, or feel haunted by any other stressful life experience we are able to help. Aspire Counseling is known for trauma therapy and PTSD treatment and has several qualified counselors that can provide evidence-based trauma treatment.

Grief & Loss Counseling

Losing a loved one at any point in your life can be devastating. However, there’s a unique flavor to it when a loved one dies while you are in college already struggling to define who you want to be. It can feel very isolating to lose someone important to you when you are young and it can often seem like your friends don’t understand what you are going through. Grief counseling can help you accept the loss, remember the person who is gone, and find a new normal as you move forward.

Anxiety Treatment

Everyone experiences anxiety. However, sometimes anxiety starts to hold you back and impact your college experience. This is where counseling can be helpful. Our therapists offer anxiety treatment to help with social anxiety, generalized anxiety, OCD, test anxiety, or just anxiety surrounding specific things.

Gender Identity Affirmation & LGBTQ+ Friendly Therapy

Aspire Counseling is a safe, affirming space.  Our therapists advocate for LGBT rights and provide excellent counseling services to individuals of all sexual orientations and genders. We have sought out training on LGBT+ issues and have a therapist who specializes in working with transgender in the transition process. We have therapists who can help whether you are exploring your own gender identity/sexual orientation or coming to counseling for another reason and just looking for a therapist who is LGBTQ+ affirming. So, if you are looking for an LGBTQ+ affirming therapist, you’ve come to the right place.

Depression

 Depression is common in college, but the good news is that you don’t have to stay stuck. All of our counselors have experience and training in treating depression.

Life Transitions and Identity Struggles. 

College is a period of change and self-discovery.  Sometimes that feels unsettling and you need a little help navigating these changes and finding “you.” We can help you mentally, emotionally, and socially make the transition from who you were in high school to who you will be in college.  We also work with young adults who have recently graduated from college and are transitioning to life post-graduation.

Relationship struggles

While we do not provide couples counseling, we do often see people who struggle in relationships.  Through counseling, our therapists can help you improve your interpersonal effectiveness skills so you can be more successful in your friendships, romantic relationships, and even future professional relationships. We want to help you clarify what’s important to you in relationships and help you move toward healthier relationships so you are set up to have fulfilling relationships for years to come.

Stress management

Stress in college is inevitable and you may not feel equipped to cope with the demands placed on you by professors, friends, family, employers, and even pressure you put on yourself. We put a heavy emphasis on self-care and can help you develop a personal plan for coping with stress.

Worry about the future 

Most people worry about the future, particularly during their Senior year or right after graduation. For some people, this worry starts even earlier as it feels like there’s a lot of pressure on you right now to map out the rest of your life. If you feel overwhelmed and anxious wondering what life will look like post-graduation it might be helpful to have someone to process your feelings with.

Need help with something else? When in doubt, give us a call.  Our therapists each have their own areas of strength, unique personality, and approach to therapy, so even if your exact issue isn’t on this list, we may have someone who can help. If we’re not the right fit, we can help point you in the right direction of other local resources.

Why Choose Aspire Counseling?

We know you have choices when it comes to finding a therapist in the Mid Missouri area.  In fact, we encourage you to very
carefully consider your options and maybe even speak to more than one therapist.  Why? Because research shows that having a therapist you feel comfortable with and can form a good therapeutic relationship with is key to getting better.  We do want to let you know just a few of the reasons our counselors may stand out from other mental health professionals you speak to.

1. We frequently work with college students and young adults.  At Aspire Counseling, we see a lot of college students. And we enjoy working with both undergraduate and graduate students. We know this is a unique time in your life and want to help. Our therapists have seen students taking classes at the University of Missouri (MU), Columbia College, Stephens College, Moberly Area Community College (MACC), Westminister, and other secondary education programs.  This means that we have some knowledge about the culture, campus resources, and pressures you are facing.

2. Our therapists use evidence-supported treatments.  We believe strongly in evidence-based practice and each of our therapists is trained in at least two therapies that studies have shown are very effective.  We want you to feel better QUICKLY.  Therefore, we want to use the type of treatment that has the best chance of helping you reach your goals the fastest. We have therapists trained in EMDR, DBT, Prolonged Exposure, Cognitive Processing Therapy, CBT, ACT, and others.

3. Our office is comfortable. We want you to immediately feel at peace when you walk into our office. For this reason, we have nature scenes adorning our walls. We have little activities that promote self-care available for you to use in our waiting areas such as zen gardens, a sand mandala, adult coloring pages, and books. We offer both hot and cold beverages and even small snacks. Our office will not feel like a doctor’s waiting room or an old campus building. We place a lot of emphasis on this idea that our office needs to feel inviting and comfortable for you to be able to feel comfortable opening up to us.

4. We will treat you as an individual. Our therapists make every effort to treat you as an individual.  We will ask about your goals and strengths and design a treatment plan with you in mind.  Yes, we value research (see above), but we also know that everyone is different.  At the end of the day, your goals, values, and needs dictate your treatment plan. You are a partner in our work together and we will treat you that way.

5. Our locations. Our office locations are conveniently located for college students, in addition to offering online counseling for easy access to your therapist from anywhere in the state of Missouri. Our Columbia counseling office is right off Providence directly behind the Grand Cru restaurant.  For those of you who might be living at Campus View apartments, we are just across the street.  It is easy and quick to get to our office from the MU campus or from downtown Columbia. Our Lee’s Summit office is only minutes from Blue Springs and easily accessible from 470 as it’s just off Hwy 50. Additionally, we are able to offer online therapy sessions as long as you are physically located in the state of Missouri. So, if you go home to anywhere else in the state over break or even move to another part of Missouri, you can continue to work with your Aspire Counseling therapist.

6. We want you to see the RIGHT therapist for you, so each therapist offers a free consultation. First, you’ll notice that our website offers you a lot of information to help you find the right fit. Each of our therapists has a page where they’ve written a little about themselves, their approach to therapy, and the clients they work best with.  Then, when you first call or e-mail, our intake coordinator or clinical director will contact you and take time to assess what you are looking for and recommend the therapist they feel will be the right fit.  Just to make sure you are with the right person, each therapist offers a free consultation either on the phone or in-person before you commit to working with them.  We value the therapeutic relationship between you and your therapist and will go the extra mile to find just the right person for you.