As a student, you may experience a range of issues that can create barriers to learning and your overall success. These could include things such as increased anxiety, alcohol/drug problems, trouble adjusting and difficulty concentrating. As these stressors increase, it could interfere with functioning and making everyday decisions.

Zane State College offers counseling services to assist you with any needs you identify. Counseling is available to all students and is completely free! Counseling is a great way to meet with someone in a supportive setting to start the process of reaching your goals. There is no formal referral form, so students can schedule at any time.

Throughout the year, students receive helpful information about mental health awareness and education, ways to promote good mental health and resources on and off campus. Information may be given in a number of ways including at orientation, in classrooms and emails.

Heather Merry, ZSC's Student Support Counselor, is a licensed counselor available for individual and group counseling on campus as well as consultation. Students who are determined to benefit from more intense services than what is offered on campus may be referred to outpatient counseling.

By now, everyone has probably heard this term uttered by someone you know. The truth is, many people may not know exactly what it is. Depression is more than feeling sad for a couple of days. Some people may even meet the criteria of depression and not even know it, or, know that there are resources out there to help. Depression is not something you need to fight alone. Depression may present itself at really inconvenient times, like when you’re trying to study for exams or when you have to work in class groups with students you don’t know. Let’s face it, college is going to provide you with a lot of different experiences and opportunities that depression may try to keep you from accomplishing.

• Feeling sad, empty, hopeless
• Low Energy
• Not being as interested in activities like you use to
• Poor concentration
• Changes in weight (gaining/losing)
• Thoughts of suicide
• Withdrawing socially 

Everyone may experience anxiety from time to time, in fact in optimal amounts, anxiety can be helpful. However, when anxiety persists for longer periods of time and progressively gets worse, this is not helpful or healthy. Talking with a professional can help distinguish between the two and together develop an appropriate plan of treatment. Anxiety disorders are usually treated with counseling, medication, or a combination of both. Anxiety disorders come in many forms such as OCD, Separation anxiety, Panic disorder, and social anxiety disorder. Although symptoms may be different from person to person, and the criteria for each disorder will be different, the following are examples of symptoms related to anxiety disorders.

• Feeling on edge
• Difficulty concentrating
• Muscle tension
• Sleep problems
• Panic attacks
• Fear about specific situations that may lead to avoiding them
• Having a hard time making and keeping friends.

In college, there are so many adjustments that students today make, even for those students who do not uproot and leave their community. In fact, when a person perceives an adjustment or change as stressful that person may exhibit signs of being in distress which can show in forms of depression or anxiety.  The great news is, there are effective ways to treat this. The most common methods include counseling and or medication.

Suicide Prevention Resource Center 
https://www.sprc.org/

The JED Foundation
https://www.jedfoundation.org/

National Institute of Mental Health
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/

From time to time, we all need support. If you need more intensive support than what is offered on campus, here is general list of resources that accept federal/state funded sources, insurance, and/or self-pay.

Prior to any appointment, verify what list of services are covered through your insurance provider.

Crises Text Line: 741741

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988

Crises Hotline: 740.344.5818 (serving Muskingum, Guernsey, Noble, Perry, Coshocton, Morgan counties)

Alcohol & Drug Services of Guernsey County
927 Wheeling Avenue Suite 310 Cambridge, OH
740.439.4532

Allwell Behavioral Health Services-Guernsey County
2500 John Glenn Highway Cambridge, OH
740.439.4428

Allwell Behavioral Health Services-Muskingum County
2845 Bell Street Zanesville, OH
740.454.9766
Hearing Impaired-TDD 740.455.4142 or 800.432.4142

BrightView
2572 Maple Avenue
Zanesville, OH 43701
757.695-9406

Coshocton Behavioral Health Choices
610 Walnut Street Coshocton, OH
740.622.0033

Muskingum Behavioral Health
601 Underwood Street Zanesville, OH
740.454.1266

Noble Behavioral Health Choices
48 Olive Street Caldwell, OH
740.732.5988

addictions.com
A site that contains information on addictions, treatment, and rehab facilities in Ohio and nationwide.
24/7 Addiction Hotline: 866-312-4647

The following resources are available for free through a phone application and include information on warning signs, safety plans, hotlines, and resources for Veterans and the LGBTQ community. Resources include:

• My3
• LifeBouy
• ASK & Prevent Suicide