Men’s mental health matters.
Today, members of the Wabash community use this mantra frequently to take pride in seeking mental health care — a practice that is highly stigmatized, especially among young men. That wouldn’t be the case if it weren’t for Counseling Center Director Jamie Douglas.
Douglas, who is retiring at the end of this semester, didn’t start her career as a counselor until later in life — in her forties. Before that, she was traveled to local elementary schools teaching about sexual abuse and safety.
“I remember thinking, ‘I’m so glad that I’m just giving this information, and then if a student is struggling, they don’t come to me, they go to the counselors,’” Douglas said. “I had to grow into this.”
But eventually she felt a calling to pursue counseling, and after acquiring her degree from Indiana Wesleyan University, she worked in the Montgomery County court system with the Department of Child Services and held office hours at her church before landing at Wabash.
“It’s bittersweet to leave Wabash, but I feel like I’m leaving it in good hands.”
Jaime Douglas
When she was first asked to work at Wabash, she wasn’t thrilled with the idea.
“I thought, ‘I don’t know… how interesting can young men between 18 and 22 be?’” Douglas said. “Well, I learned very quickly what this age group is like and what young men struggle with, and now — 13 years later — I’m pretty much a specialist in young men between 18 and 22.”
One of the big challenges Douglas faced with Wabash students was combatting the negative stigma that surrounds seeking support for mental health.
“There’s a lot of people within the last couple of years who have been taking mental health, especially men’s mental health, much more seriously here on campus, but Jamie has undeniably been the driving force in that matter,” said Bennett Strain, chair of the Student Senate Mental Health Concerns Committee.
When Douglas first started working part-time at Wabash in 2011, the Counseling Center looked very different.
“We were really underground,” Douglas said.
She wasn’t kidding. At the time, the counseling center was in the basement of the Chapel.
“I told people, ‘We’re the last door before you get to the boilers,’” Douglas said. “It was just full of furniture and things that people had put in there over the years.”
But while the space was small and uninviting, students poured into the basement of the Chapel in overwhelming numbers.
“The demand just kept growing,” Douglas said. “It wasn’t that young men were suffering more, it was that [they] were seeking services more. There was an awakening, I think, with young adults beginning to realize that it’s really OK to get support.”
Just as demand was growing, in 2019, Douglas’s partner Kevin Swaim left Wabash, and the counseling center once again became a department of one. In January of 2020, she hired Laura Dolph, and the pair worked tirelessly to ensure Wabash students had access to mental health services through the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“She’s very knowledgeable, she’s very passionate about what she does, and she’s really built a solid foundation for the College.”
Keri Francis
The following year, when things had settled down, Douglas single-handedly moved the counseling center out of the basement to the top floor of the Ginny Hays house, where they were for two years before moving to the Kendall House, the (hopefully) permanent residence of the counseling center.
“Wabash really invested in mental health,” Douglas said. “They just gave us the most beautiful space, and it’s all for mental health.”
One of Douglas’s lasting achievements was to bring in a full-time wellness coordinator, Tristen Abbott.
“I love doing education, [but] if you’ve got licensed therapists, you want to use them for that,” Douglas said.
They also brought on an additional part-time therapist, Keri Francis, who will be succeeding Douglas as director starting next semester. Francis has worked in mental health for 15 years and started seeing Wabash students part-time in October 2022.
“I really have appreciated [Douglas] as a mentor with this new environment as I transition into this director role,” Francis said. “She’s very knowledgeable, she’s very passionate about what she does, and she’s really built a solid foundation for the College.”
After 14 years of dedication to the students of Wabash, Douglas now feels confident that the impacts she has made have prepared the Counseling Center for continued success in the wake of her departure.
“It’s bittersweet to leave Wabash, but I feel like I’m leaving it in good hands,” Douglas said.
“You can feel her presence throughout campus, and it’s definitely one that will be missed,” said Strain.
Looking to the future, the Counseling Center hopes to continue on in the legacy Douglas leaves behind.
“The most important thing I’ve learned from Jamie is just really focusing on the students,” Francis said. “We want to be accessible and available and to continue that high quality of service that the students have been accustomed to.”
What’s next for Douglas and her husband Dr. Scott Douglas ’84?
“We’re going sailing,” Douglas said. “We bought a boat that’s like a little camper. It’s small, but we can live on it for months at a time.”
After years of service, Douglas has more than earned her retirement, and the strong foundation she has established within the Counseling Center will continue to support Wabash students for generations to come.