Peer Coaching

Meet the Coaches!

As part of an ongoing effort to serve students who might not reach out for traditional psychotherapy, the WellCat Counseling Center currently offers peer support.  

This program aims to meet students where they are to enable whole-person health through individual and group sessions. The main focus of the coaching team is to foster holistic wellness and create community and connectedness for students at Chico State.   

The UMatter and Peer Coach team strives to foster the university's strategic priorities through ongoing projects that advance resilient and sustainable systems, equity diversity and inclusion, and civic and global engagement. The priorities are understood as integral to student mental health.  

What is Peer Coaching for? 

Coaching is intended to help individuals achieve personal goals such as  

• increased happiness 
• improved physical health 
• study skills 
• greater work-life balance 
• strategies for increased mindfulness 

Our peer coaches help students create achievable goals, offering encouragement, accountability, evaluating progress, and celebrating wins.  

We believe in encouraging holistic wellbeing: emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, physical, relational, spiritual, and vocational. 

Some students find it helpful to participate in both therapy and coaching. For example, you may want to discuss your trauma, anxiety, or depression with a therapist and meet with a coach to create and achieve goals around diet and exercise, mindfulness and embodiment. 

Students of Color,

We welcome our Black, Latinx, Native American, Asian, South Asian, Pacific Islander, and Middle Eastern students … and to our many students with intersecting backgrounds and identities. We’re so glad you are here! 

Many students of color face unique challenges due to systemic racism and racial trauma. These stressors can impact mental, emotional, and physical health. The Peer Coaching program seeks to address the unique needs of marginalized students. 

While students of color typically have higher levels of distress, they often have greater levels of unmet mental health needs. Some barriers to accessing mental health including mistrust of the mental health system and stigma. We want to meet students where they are and support them in thriving at Chico State. We offer: 

• “let’s talk” drop-in hours at different locations on campus 
• monthly community dinner nights 
• groups and workshops specifically for students of color  (let's link to these groups)