Licensed mental health therapist Ghazal Abbas at California State, Bakersfield speaks of her hopes and goals as a therapist and CSUB counselor.  

Abbas hopes to make students comfortable enough to share and unravel the emotions they carry within themselves and have no where to express them.  

When students walk into the center Abbas wants to “make sure the students feel seen in my room for whatever they’re going through.”  

She shared how she wants any student that comes to visit her to feel the reality of their emotions while with her but also to leave their hardships behind.  

“Letting that weight be alive in the room but also taking it off here and being real about how it feels.”  

Abbas feels an importance in therapy and receiving emotional help to be normalized.  

“My biggest goal is to help destigmatize mental healthy therapy and receiving counseling.” 

 Abbas coming from a community and culture that looks down on receiving emotional help from a professional, she really understands the reality of struggling with the stigma with therapy.  

 “Helping break that cycle and letting students understand that its okay to come and ask for support.”