Q&A

vivors. So I’m here to help them process those things and also to provide support and opportunities for self-care.

Do you see a demand for your work at CMU?

When I started in December it was slowly building, but word of mouth spread very quickly and I was getting more and more referrals. I was getting at least two referrals per week. Things have slowed down a little bit I think because it was getting closer to spring break and students’ minds are elsewhere. I know that the particular service that I provide can be very hard or difficult for people who want to come in, you know, it’s very hard to talk about traumatic things, right? So I guess it ebbs and flows. Like, there’s going to be times that there might be a higher need or I see a little bit of an increase in referrals and vice versa. But my hope is that the word of mouth continues to spread.

Are there specific demographic groups that you see more of than others? What about gender?

(Within) the short amount of time that I’ve been here, I’ve had a nice mixture of clients, so I can’t really pinpoint one. I do know that there are minorities that are less likely to seek services just because of cultural beliefs and things like that. I am hispanic myself, and I think that could probably open the door for students that are minorities to feel more comfortable, so that’s my goal.

So far I have seen no males. All my clients have been female, either in an individual or group setting. I think that males will report less of this just because of the stigma. ‘You’re a man, and this stuff doesn’t happen to men.’ It’s also the fear of being made fun of or teased or anything like that. So it’s definitely a barrier we want to break because this could happen to anyone and services are available for everyone.

What do you think would hold a student back from seeking counseling center services for sexu- al assault?

Well, there’s the stigma associated with mental health. There’s shame, there’s guilt. And maybe not knowing about the resources or maybe some hesitation related to not being sure about services being confidential and things like that.

Aileen GuerraMorales

Aileen Guerra-Morales is a new counselor at CMU providing individual and group therapy for students impacted by sexual assault, domestic violence, intimate partner violence, stalking or harassment. In an interview with Central Michigan Life, she discussed her responsibilities and splitting her time between the Counseling Center and Sexual Aggression Peer Advocates (SAPA).

Lauren Rice ■ Staff Reporter

I feel like if I’m seeking mental health services, I kind of want to know who the therapist is going to be. Maybe I want to see a picture, maybe I want to see a short video they did on a website to just kind of get a feel for that person. You know what I mean? Because they’re going to go in and share very personal things. So I think that also could be a barrier — not knowing.

Do you see students who haven’t reported their assault to the police? Why wouldn’t they report the crime?

Of all the clients I’ve seen so far, none of them have reported anything to the police. And that is a very personal decision, because it involves a lot of different things. So, none have reported, but they do know that that’s an option if they decided to do that.

Once again, I think that the client is feeling very ashamed. Maybe they blame themselves for what happened or they feel like they’re not going to be supported. Maybe in their mind they don’t think it was a sexual assault or maybe they think it wasn’t enough to call it a sexual assault. Again, it’s that lack of knowledge of how Michigan law defines sexual assault.