Counseling ServicesAbout Us
Our Mission
The Office of Counseling Services (OCS) is a university agency with a competent, diverse, and multidisciplinary professional staff. OCS provides evidence based mental health services, preventative programming, and a multi-level doctoral training program. The OCS staff adheres to the highest standards of ethics and confidentiality. We promote and maintain a reliable service system in a safe and supportive atmosphere.
The staff at ODU OCS have experienced a range of emotions due to the senseless murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery as well as many other instances of violence - lethal and not - against people of color in the U.S. The longstanding economic violence against people of color and their communities in this country, and the widespread, systematic and shameful disregard for the value of their lives in the eyes of others is heartbreaking. Posting supportive messages on the internet is fine but will accomplish little to help solve the lethal consequences of systemic racism. Words alone will not make this situation better.
Due to this fact, we encourage the students of ODU to use their feelings of shock, fear, hurt, outrage, confusion, anger, and sadness over these events to speak their truth in the following ways.
- Act. No one has changed the world by doing nothing.
- Register. Use your vote in the democratic process of our country to back leaders who share your values.
- Protest. The murder of George Floyd and countless other minority persons due to systemic racism is unacceptable.
- Call/Write. Hold your elected leaders in your city, state, and nation accountable for addressing this issue.
- Listen. Learning about the experiences of others will inform our decisions as we confront this problem together.
- Create. Discover ways to build your world where systemic racism is not the norm.
