Transgender and non-binary students at California State University, Bakersfield looking for support and advice now have a new resource available to them.
The Counseling Center has created a support group this semester for trans and non-binary students that meets every Tuesday as of this week. This is the first support group dedicated to LGBTQ+ students in the university’s history.
“I’m really excited at the thought of LGBTQIA+ support groups getting started on the CSUB campus,” said Nancy Smith, president of the student group LGBTQ+ Network. “I hope this group allows trans and non-binary students to feel more welcome on campus and find a deeper sense of community on campus with their peers.”
Counselor Janet Millar created the group and is leading the weekly group sessions, which students can drop in and out of. The meetings are currently being held over Zoom at 9 a.m. on Tuesdays.
The group will focus on the experience of being transgender and non-binary and aims to resolve practical issues for students, such as finding a suitable bathroom and making sure faculty are using their preferred names.
Millar said she has counseled trans and non-binary students individually for years and has been looking for new ways to give them more support.
“I have a little special place in my heart for trans and non-binary people,” she said. “The pain they’re dealing with is so real. I want to do whatever I can to lift them up and help them. I want to be able to continue to give back to them.”
Over the summer, Millar said she was thinking about what new support groups the Counseling Center could offer this school year. After looking at what other universities are doing, she said she found that a few of them — such as CSU Northridge and San Bernardino — have LGBTQ+ support groups and was encouraged to try that at CSUB.
Millar knows it will be challenging to encourage trans and non-binary students to participate in the group and speak about their experiences in front of others instead of on a typical one-on-one basis, but she feels they could really benefit from it.
“I think it’s especially important given the COVID-19 pandemic and the amount of loneliness and languishing students have had. We’ve all kind of been locked away,” she said. “We want to give these students as many opportunities to get with other people as we can.”
Individual counseling can delve more deeply into personal trauma and attempt to resolve that. However, Millar said group counseling has its own advantages, such as that students “learn from each other’s personal experiences.”
Regardless of whether a student is participating in individual or group counseling, Millar said she is honored to give the trans and non-binary student community at CSUB more ways to receive the support they need.
“They’re fabulous, wonderful people who can totally contribute and make a difference in the world,” she said. “They don’t have to make excuses or explain who they are to anybody.”
Millar said she hopes to have the support group continue beyond this semester and become a permanent service provided by the Counseling Center.
Students who would like to participate in the group can RSVP by calling the center at 661-654-3366, after which they will be given a Zoom link. For more information about this and other counseling services, visit the Counseling Center webpage.
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