Spring semester has just started and if you’re feeling overwhelmed, right here on campus, we have a great team of mental health workers and one of them is Jill Maze. Maze is a mental health counselor and has the tools to help struggling students who are feeling overwhelmed. She offers many tools that can help you cope with life in school, at home, and how to find a balance between the two. When interviewed and asked about stress, she shared her two favorite self-care habits: gardening and exercise. She said “do what works for you” and “what makes you feel calm, self aware, mindful and connected to the moment.”
Maze started her career at COS and she shared how she felt “motivated to help people.” She had originally thought about nursing, teaching, or social work: but it wasn’t until she volunteered at a homeless shelter that she realized what she wanted to do. She got her associate degree here at COS and her bachelor’s degree at Azusa Pacific University.
After graduating she moved to Porterville and worked with children dealing with different crises and issues like PTSD. Maze decided she wanted to help even more and got a master’s degree at Fresno State to become a caseworker. Maze says, “I wanted to find out what makes people tick!”
Maze is not the only mental health counselor on the Visalia Campus. We have two Licensed Mental Health Counselors, Maze and Chris Ramirez. We also have two interns getting experience and a case manager. On the Tulare campus, Teresa Ramirez is the Licensed Mental Health Counselor.
COS offers mental health support through counseling. you can attend up to 8 sessions per semester If you can’t meet in person you can make a virtual appointment through Telehealth. All of these sessions are free if you are a COS student.
For all counseling appointments go to the health center in the Giant Forest building. Other services at the health center include a health assessment to find out what kind of help you might need, a peer-to-peer support program, and counselors to talk one one-on-one.
Check out our free on-demand wellness and mental health resource at https://cosstudent.silvercloudhealth.com/signup/
In the event of a mental health emergency please dial 988 for the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
Jill Maze, MSW, LCSW, PPSC
College of the Sequoias, Student Health Services
Mental Health Counselor & Clinical Supervisor
559.730.3988 ~ [email protected]
