My client is a 20-year-old Korean American female and sophomore starting on the soccer team who self-referred after a panic attack during a team film session. She reports months of escalating anxiety including racing thoughts, poor sleep, nausea before practices, and a constant sense of dread, and has been increasingly isolating from teammates. She feels pressure to appear strong and put together at all times, both as an athlete and within her family, where mental health struggles are not openly discussed. She is reluctant to burden her parents, who she describes as hardworking and sacrificing, with her struggles. She has no prior therapy experience and some skepticism about counseling, but acknowledges that “something has to change."
My client is a 19-year-old White male and first-year student majoring in Computer Science who self-referred after missing several classes and receiving an outreach email from his academic advisor. He reports months of worsening low mood, increasing social withdrawal, difficulty concentrating, and a growing sense that he “doesn’t really belong here.” Since arriving at college, he has struggled to make close friends and spends most evenings alone in his room gaming or scrolling online. He feels pressure to live up to expectations as “the smart one” in his family and is ashamed that things that once came easily now feel overwhelming. He worries that admitting he is struggling means he is weak or disappointing others. He has no prior counseling experience and initially tells himself that he is “probably just being lazy,” though he quietly wonders if something deeper might be wrong.
My client is a 21-year-old Black female and junior pre-med student who was encouraged to come to counseling by her academic advisor after becoming tearful during a meeting about declining grades. She reports months of escalating stress, persistent anxiety, emotional exhaustion, and frequent episodes of feeling overwhelmed and “on the edge” throughout the day. She has increasingly withdrawn from friends and activities because she feels guilty spending time on anything besides work and school. She feels significant pressure to succeed academically and worries about letting down her family, who have made substantial sacrifices to support her education. She describes herself as someone who has always been strong and dependable for others and struggles with the idea of needing help herself. She has never attended counseling before and feels uncertain whether talking to someone will actually help, though she admits that she “can’t keep doing things this way.”