I attended the volunteer training around five weeks ago at the Montrose Counseling Center and learned a great deal about what they do for the community like provide resources to those that may not have them and allow those who are troubled in the community to come to them and seek help. We took a tour of the clinic and as we were talking, I realized that this was a whole other community that had totally different issues and problems. I felt as if I was helpless because I couldn't fully relate to the gay community and the programs that I would have liked to join in require role models who have gone through struggles that they have. The counseling center also provides help to students ranging from 12-21 that feel as if they are alone in the world and can't talk to their friends, mentors, or family. Only those volunteers working there for 2 years can participate in this and those who have gone through this.
They had a few events every month that took place during the week and some on random times in the middle of the day and some on the weekend, when I had work. I couldn't write this on the Student Survey because there was no spot to put this in. I don't believe that I should get any special treatment but I would like to note that those of us who do work to try to make ends meet to pay for our rent and still go to school have a higher duty to the community that involves doing well in school and being able to provide to the community in the future. I was not able to answer the phone lines because I would have to be there for awhile to do that and the times of the events were during the week when I had class, sometime when I had office hours, or when I had to go into research at Baylor.
I hope this is taken into consideration at least for the next course and I would have liked to volunteer more hours, but previous commitments had prevented me from volunteering to the extent that I wanted to for this project.
All-in-all it was a great learning experience because I never before and really never will realize how difficult it is to live a life that seems separated from the "norm" of society. I pray for those who have to undergo the pain and break through the stigma that is placed on this community. Hopefully with more funding and more support, the gay community will be able to have more resources that will allow them to promote safety and spread awareness to everyone.
