VIII. Academic Support and Learning Resources
Student Success Center
Responsible for Maintenance: Director of Student Success
The mission of the Student Success Center at Richard Bland College of William & Mary is to ensure an exceptional student experience. Using a wide variety of wrap-around support services, the Student Success Center fosters a campus culture of collaborative and engaged learners working in a rigorous academic and social environment.
Located on the first floor of the library, a wide variety of support services and resources designed to enhance the RBC Student Experience is offered through the Student Success Center including academic advising, disability services, career and emotional counseling, and personal and professional development workshops.
Our Student Success Center team focuses on creating a one-size fits one, student-centered support system. Learner Mentors support students in developing their individual strengths with targeted interventions suited to their specific goals. The Student Success Center assists in identifying and implementing academic success programs that support progress through graduation, empowering students to take control of their academic journeys. More information about the Student Success Center is found at the following website: http://www.rbc.edu/academics/student-support-team/.
Learning Support
Responsible for Maintenance: : Chief Academic Officer
The Writing Center is located in ERNST 222, providing writers with the opportunity to test ideas with a tutorial staff comprised of academic coaches/tutors and RBC staff. Virtual opportunities are also available. We believe that the best writing support is achieved with academic coaches/tutors who listen and ask questions in order to foster a writer’s own curiosity. Writers are supported from the beginning, exploratory stages of the writing process to the final phases of polishing the final version.
Located in McNeer 101, the Math & Science Tutoring Center (MySTiC) has one-on-one peer tutoring available for all math and sciences courses offered at RBC. Virtual tutoring is also available. Please refer to the college website for times and locations of tutoring and other academic support services.
Learner Mentors
Responsible for Maintenance: Director of Student Success
Learner Mentors work with Richard Bland College students to foster their development as visionary, insightful, responsive, respectful, and resourceful citizens. Each Learner Mentor provides assistance in creating an academically sound plan of study that will lead to on-time graduation from RBC and allow for a successful transition and transfer of credits into a four-year college or university.
Counseling Services
Responsible for Maintenance: Director of Counseling Services
Richard Bland College is committed to offering a variety of counseling services to assist students with their overall development and adjustment to campus. Free and confidential counseling is available for individuals or groups of students needing help with personal and academic concerns. Students may schedule an appointment to see a counselor via email: Counseling@rbc.edu or by phone: 804-862-6263. Because college life poses special challenges both inside and outside of the classroom, students often seek help with balancing their coursework, jobs, and personal lives. To facilitate their development, a counselor will meet with students to identify strategies that will help them achieve realistic goals.
Mental Health Support
Responsible for Maintenance: Director of Counseling Services
Mental Health referrals are available to students whose cognitive and emotional needs are beyond the scope of the services offered on campus. Referrals are made for individuals requiring long-term specialized services or crisis intervention. The Community Agency Referral Guide is a manual that provides students with a list of hospitals, counseling services, crisis centers, and educational agencies throughout the Petersburg/Tri-Cities area. Students may access the manual online: Referral Guide
Types of Counseling Offered at RBC
Counseling services are offered in person as well as by phone, facetime, Zoom, WebX, or Google Meet.
Personal Counseling: Counseling is a collaborative process that involves an exploration of issues contributing to or hindering a student’s growth. Individual sessions are short-term and usually involve meetings on a weekly basis or as needed.
Group Counseling: Sessions focused on student groups usually involve face-to-face or virtual interactive talking circles in which students focus on establishing an environment of trust and support while expressing their concern(s).
Couples/Partner Counseling: This service is offered to support students in relationships.
Consultation: Counseling available to support students in need of guidance on a specific academic or social concern. Students should see a Learner Mentor for comprehensive academic advice.
Expanded Mental Health Services
24-Hour Virtual Mental Health Support
WellTrack Features
- Zen Room(Relaxation Exercises) – Individuals will engage in a guided self-relaxation experience in a customized relaxation room.
- Moodcheck– Individuals will be able to track their mood and understand how the things they do throughout the day affect how they feel.
- Activity Scheduler– Individuals will be able to schedule pleasurable social and achievement activities.
- Achievement Tracker– Individuals to understand how their selected activities can boost or decrease their feelings of happiness, fun, and achievement.
- Calendar– Individuals can view their scheduled activities and utilize a remote client video session if they use WellTrack with a mental health provider.
- Cognitive Distortions Quiz– Individuals are introduced to seven types of unhelpful thinking styles. The quiz will help them understand each thinking style.
- Thought Diary– Individuals can use this tool to help them identify with real-life situations where unhelpful thinking styles are applied. They learn how to adapt their thinking in different situations.
- Information– Included in the app are mental health resources for RBC students or staff.
RBC’s 24-Hour Counseling Services & Crisis Line
ProtoCall Plus Interventionists will be available to listen to RBC students’ concerns, assess their current circumstances, and provide crisis support using solution-focused strategies and an expansive mental health care referral system inclusive of campus, local, and national mental health resources.
These services are available 24/7, which means that students seeking day or after-hours assistance will be able to contact a mental health professional.
The RBC Counseling Services Department works in partnership with the Department of Justice – Violence Against Women’s Grant Program to provide resources and assistance for students and campus members who are survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking crimes.
Free Training opportunities are available to students in the following areas:
- Domestic Violence
- Dating Violence
- Stalking
- Bystander Intervention
- Survivor & Victim Support
To request training for 2-10 students or campus members, please contact
Dr. Evanda Martinez or Ms. Shanequa Reed at ovw@rbc.edu.
Counseling Services’ partnership with the James House expands options for victim support for students and campus members who have been affected by sexual violence, domestic violence, and stalking.
Assisting Student Dealing with Emotional Distress
Responsible for Maintenance: Director of Counseling Services
Suicidal Ideation and Behavior
The suicide prevention work at Richard Bland College is grounded in the philosophy that promoting positive mental health through caring engagement in support of our students’ success will contribute to their overall wellness. As we identify behavioral risks and warning signs of potentially self-defeating and destructive thinking, options for interventions are presented through proactive and solution-focused approaches that consider students’ protective factors as mechanisms for fortifying their psychoeducational and psychosocial experiences. Our student-centric approach to behavioral wellness brings students’ protective factors to the foreground of our work as much consideration is given to their ability to use effective coping, self-regulation, and relationship building skills when talking about their problems and asking for help. In our interactions with students in crisis, we found that those who are proficient in these areas tend to move towards personal discovery as they progress through their degree programs at RBC. Moreover, such skills have enabled them to determine their values, identify their strengths, accept their flaws, and build their esteem in ways that encourage a positive and productive life philosophy and a well-defined sense of purpose.
Guided by the vision and mission of Counseling Services, our mental health and college student development practices align with the strategic vision and the overarching institutional goals of Richard Bland College. Our department has a robust individual, partner/couples, and group in-office and virtual services. In terms of additional student support, we have established partnerships on campus and with local agencies (with specialized programs) and national organizations to expand RBC students’ mental health access.
Vision:
The Richard Bland College Counseling Services Office aims to offer high quality and multi-tiered developmental counseling that promotes a sense of personal empowerment, academic advocacy, emotional balance, social well-being, and self-understanding among students.
Mission:
To support and advance students’ well-being through counseling strategies that consider and address their overall development and movement toward mental clarity, emotional wellness, and a position of strength and wholeness in the intellectual and social communities at Richard Bland College.
The vision and mission of RBC Counseling Services have prompted counselors to use culturally informed and culturally responsive approaches to suicide prevention which consider the client’s background and belief systems to be informative tools that provide a comprehensive understanding of their concerns. Thus, the student-counselor partnership functions as a therapeutic alliance in which a bond of trust and self-evolution exists on the road to healing, mental clarity, emotional balance, and wholeness.
Achieving Mental Clarity
Counseling Assistance
How Do We Assist Our Students?
Students:
- Receive crisis counseling in a safe and confidential environment in which they can gain mental clarity, insight, and empowerment.
- Participate in client-centered and solution-focused sessions that promote their ability to envision positive and life-changing circumstances.
- Envision the ways in which circumstances can change for the better in their lives.
- Engage in personal goal setting to promote future thinking and visualization of a better future.
- Work in collaboration with RBC counselors, Learner Mentors, professors, and family/caregivers (as appropriate) to support their academic progression.
Emotional Wellness & Balance
How Do We Assist Our Students?
RBC Counselors focus on important protective factors that impact their mental health.
The Counselors:
- Identify, assess, and assist students who are at risk for suicide.
- Design safety plans for students –All plans are specific to the needs of the student and inclusive of the names and numbers of friends, family members, community agencies with professionals to assist with crisis.
- Share follow-up strategies and plans with students.
- Work collaboratively with the Office of Residence Life and the Campus Safety & Police Department to establish a wellness check schedule for residential students in crisis.
Students in crisis can access day and after-hours counseling services.
- RBC Counseling Services – Counseling@rbc.edu or 804-862-6263
(During Regular Work Hours).
- Telehealth Option 1 – 24/7 Access to a counselor – WellTrack Boost/Protocall Plus
- Telehealth Option 2 – 24/7 Access to a counselor -988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Lifeline (988lifeline.org)
- RBC Campus Safety & Police 24/7 – Emergency:804-862-6111 or 911
Non-Emergency 804-863-4058
Moving Students Towards a Position of Strength and Wholeness
How Do We Assist Our Students?
Richard Bland College Counseling Services Office supports students throughout their healing process. We understand that the protective factors that contribute to students’ mental health play a major role in their journey towards wholeness. As previously mentioned, we use engaged care strategies that are designed to enhance learners’ academic and social growth cycles on campus. RBC Counselors are committed to assisting individuals who are emotionally distressed. We ensure that our student-clients are receiving the level of care that enables them to develop a healthy, flexible, and reframed thought process that supports their ability to move towards positive outcomes. For many students, working with RBC Counseling Services leads to a greater connection to the campus community and to opportunities to engage in advocacy work and leadership.
Questions regarding counseling services at Richard Bland College should be directed to:
Dr. Evanda Watts-Martinez, Director of Counseling Services & Assistant Professor of Education
804-862-6263
Ernst Hall – A-127
Transcript Requests
Responsible for Maintenance: Director of Records & Registration
You can request your official transcripts in one of the following ways:
- All transcript requests are fulfilled electronically by the National Student Clearinghouse. Please see link below for ordering information: https://www.rbc.edu/admissions/administrative-offices/records-registration-office/request-a-transcript/
- For additional information regarding transcript requests, contact recordshelp@rbc.edu.
- Currently enrolled and former students may obtain their unofficial transcripts by accessing their MyRBC/Banner Web Account.
Chromebook Loan Program
This program allows eligible students to borrow Chromebooks acquired by the College to bridge the Digital Divide regarding full-time RBC students on campus, who have graduated from high school or equivalent as determined solely by Richard Bland College, and are in a degree-granting program at the College. Students who borrow a Chromebook must comply fully with the Chromebook Loan Agreement, which they agree to upon checking out a Chromebook.
Richard Bland College is committed to providing students with an excellent learning environment regardless of their socioeconomic status. An essential element for fulfilling this commitment is bridging the Digital Divide by loaning eligible students the computer tools necessary to help maximize their opportunities to learn.
Please access additional information on the Chromebook Loan Program at the link below:
https://www.rbc.edu/my-rbc/stac/chromebook/
Definitions
“Digital Divide” means the gulf between those who have ready access to computers and the Internet and those who do not.
Hotspot Loan Program
This program allows eligible students to borrow Hotspots acquired by the College to bridge the Digital Divide regarding full-time RBC students on campus, who have graduated from high school or equivalent as determined solely by Richard Bland College, and are in a degree-granting program at the College. Students who borrow a Hotspot must comply fully with the Hotspot Loan Agreement, which they must sign prior to taking possession of the device.
Richard Bland College is committed to providing students with an excellent learning environment regardless of their socioeconomic status. An essential element for fulfilling this commitment is bridging the Digital Divide by loaning eligible students the tools necessary to help maximize their opportunities to learn.
For more information please visit https://www.rbc.edu/my-rbc/stac/hotspot-loan-program/
