Texas A&M Counseling and Psychological Services is teaming up with the Career Center to host a virtual workshop entitled “Self-Care & Mindfulness Through the Major & Career Decision Journey.”
On Tuesday, Nov. 17 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., this workshop will be led by Megan Bond, a licensed professional counselor at CAPS, who also serves as CAPS’ career services coordinator. Bond attended Texas A&M for her undergraduate, and became involved with CAPS upon receiving the opportunity to work there during her counseling practicum.
“Students are here [at A&M] to figure out what they want to do with their lives,” Bond said. “We have the space here in counseling to engage in the exploration process, and we know how stressful and overwhelming this can be.”
Bond said this event was largely inspired by her former co-worker Meredith McDowell. Bond and McDowell began hosting self-care and mindfulness focused career workshops a year ago, and they hosted their first virtual version last spring.
Bond said even with the move to an online format, the turnout has been good and events like this can be helpful to generate stability for students.
“It can be a daunting process to figure out what’s next [after college],” Bond said. “Students are deciding what they want to do next, but it’s not going to necessarily be their whole career. Especially nowadays, it’s more about finding a starting place, not where they’ll be for the next 30 years.”
According to the Career Center, around 54 percent of Aggie graduates have job offers, 22 percent plan to go directly to higher education, and 24 percent are still searching for jobs. While this 24 percent isn’t the majority, considering the large number of graduates each semester (almost 8,000 in May of 2019), this percentage adds up to a lot of Aggies.
However, this doesn’t mean students should rush into their decision of where to work or what type of degree they should receive for that job, Bond said.
“It’s important to be mindful of ‘What do I like?’ ‘What do I dislike?’ ‘What do I need from my job for my mental, physical, emotional well-being?’,” Bond said. “In these decisions we have to take care of ourselves, especially in times that we are increasingly stressed.”
This event is intended for any student, undergraduate or graduate, who wants to spend time developing an action plan for their major or career decision. While this workshop may be particularly helpful for undecided students, Bond said she encourages any interested student to sign up.
“In the workshop, we’ll be creating an action plan as it relates to self-care and career exploration,” Bond said. “This can be helpful even if you are decided on your major or career. If you’re interested in developing an action plan, this event could be helpful.”
Students can sign up for the Self-Care & Mindfulness Through the Major & Career Decision Journey Workshop at tx.ag/selfcare. For those interested in the workshop, but unable to attend, reach out to [email protected] with further questions or to receive a copy of the workshop materials.