The Maryland General Assembly recently passed House Bill 367 mandating the availability of over-the-counter contraceptives at all Maryland Community Colleges.
 
This announcement reminds you that you can access FREE male and female contraceptives in the Student Leadership & Engagement office, located in the Student Center, Suite 101.  This service is part of our longstanding commitment to promoting sexual health and wellness within our community.  In addition to contraceptive access, the Center for Student Leadership & Engagement partners with FCC Live Well to promote workshops and events focusing on all aspects of physical and mental health, including health fairs, HIV/AIDs Testing, sexual assault awareness and prevention programming, and confidential counseling.
 
We encourage all students to take advantage of our resources to ensure safe and healthy practices across all wellness dimensions.  If you have any questions or would like more information, please feel free to contact Student Leadership & Engagement at [email protected] or [email protected]. 
 

What is a Mental Health Emergency?

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) defines a mental health crisis as “any situation in which a person's behavior puts them at risk of hurting themselves or others and/or prevents them from being able to care for themselves or function effectively in the community.”

If any of the following questions are true about your current situation, or if you feel that you cannot wait to speak to someone, please contact a counselor immediately for crisis support.

• Are you feeling so distressed that you may be unable to keep yourself or others safe?
• Do you have a current plan to attempt suicide or harm someone else?
• Has someone close to you recently died?
• Have you witnessed a traumatic event within the past couple of days?
• Have you recently been physically or sexually assaulted?
• Do you hear voices or see things that others do not?
• Have your mental health symptoms become so distracting that you have been unable to attend your classes?

Counselors are available by appointment and for walk-in services Monday – Friday from 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
If you are experiencing a mental health crisis outside of business hours, please contact one of the following resources:

 

1. The National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
   Suicide and Crisis Lifeline 
   Call: 988
   Text: 988
   Chat: 988lifeline.org

The Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available 24/7 to provide free and confidential support for people in distress, as well as to provide prevention and crisis resources. If you are thinking about suicide, are worried about someone you care about, or would like emotional support, the Lifeline is available all day, every day.

 

2. The Mental Health Association Walk In Counseling Services

   Mental Health Association of Frederick County
   The new crisis walk in clinic is available 24 hours/ day, 7 days/week and is now located at
   340 Montevue Lane, Frederick, MD 21702
   301.663.0011
    

The Mental Health Association of Frederick County offers walk-in behavioral health services to address mental, emotional, or family relationship crisis.

Grief is a natural response to loss. At some point in life we all experience the emotional suffering when something or someone we love is taken away. This pain from loss can feel overwhelming. Our emotions can be difficult or unexpected and can include shock, anger, disbelief, guilt, and deep sadness. Sometimes your physical health can be disrupted making it difficult to sleep, eat, or even think clearly. These reactions are normal when dealing with loss—and the greater the loss, the more intense these feelings can be.

Coping with loss is one of life’s biggest challenges. Most associate grieving with the death of a loved one-but any loss can cause grief, including:

• Divorce or relationship breakup
• Loss of health
• Losing a job
• Loss of financial stability
• A miscarriage
• Retirement
• Death of a pet
• Loss of a cherished dream
• A loved one's serious illness
• Loss of a friendship
• Loss of safety after a trauma
• Selling the family home

Many of the signs and symptoms of grief are similar during the first few months. Support through the grieving process can be very beneficial.  This can be in the form of one-on-one counseling, but some find support groups with others who are grieving to be particularly comforting and strengthening.  Grief symptoms normally start to fade gradually over time.  However, grief can become complicated when symptoms continue unchanged or get worse.  It is important to reach out for support if this happens.

Signs and Symptoms of Complicated Grief
How to Support Someone Grieving
 
Local Resources
Frederick Hospital Grief Supports

Support services include:

• FCPS Request Form for Individual Bereavement Counseling Services
• Short-Term Individual Counseling
• Support and self-help groups
• Workshops on grieving
• On-site grief support in the workplace
• Camp Jamie, a camp for grieving children grades 1-12
• Grief support in schools
• Community grief education
• 13-month individual support to hospice families following the death of their loved one
• Annual Remembrance Service

For more information about grief support available through Frederick Health Hospice call 240-566-3030.
 
Other Resources for Grief

• Umbrella Project:  Hiking journeys for grieving young adults
• Frederick Grief Support Group Meetings:  In person
• Bereavement Chat Room
• Grief Hope Network Online Resources
• Online Grief Support Groups
• Grief Articles, Courses, Creativity, Sharing, & Community
• Helpful Books on Grief:  For children, teens and adults

Mental Health Association of Frederick County 
The new crisis walk in clinic is available 24 hours/ day, 7 days/week and is now located at
340 Montevue Lane, Frederick, MD 21702
301.663.0011
 
The Mental Health Association of Frederick County offers walk-in behavioral health services to address mental, emotional, or family relationship crisis.
 

Campus Safety
Phone (non-emergency): 301.846.2453 or by dialing x2453 on any campus phone
Phone (emergency): Dial x4444 from any campus phone
 
Call Safety and Security when:

• You need someone to respond on campus immediately
• You are in any situation that is potentially violent or dangerous
• You feel unsafe for any reason

 
For more information regarding public safety on campus, please visit Public Safety.

Self-Assessment

Self-assessment can be a great first step to offer insight, support, and guidance about mental health challenges. These assessments are not meant to provide a diagnosis, but to guide and educate students about challenges they may be experiencing so they can access the best supports for their unique circumstances. Remember you are not alone and if you would like additional support, you are welcomed to schedule an appointment with a counselor to discuss your self-assessment results.  

1. Ulifeline
   Ulifeline is an anonymous online resource for college mental health. Their online assessments can help determine whether you or someone you care about may be struggling with a treatable mental health condition. Ulifeline also offers education on a variety of common mental health conditions as well as how to help a friend who may be struggling. 


2. Mental Health America
   Mental Health America is another anonymous online resource that offers assessment for a variety of mental health challenges.


3. HelpGuide
   Helpguide provides trustworthy guidance that can be used to strengthen your mental health and well-being, navigate challenges, and make healthy changes in your life.


4. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) questionnaire
   Trauma can impact the whole person including attachment, self-esteem, emotional regulation, behavior, world view, and even the way the brain works. The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study was completed in the mid 1990s by Kaiser Permanente and the CDC. They discovered that adverse childhood experiences are linked to physical, mental, and behavioral health conditions that ultimately can result in a shorter life.
   
   Having four or more ACEs:
   • Significantly increases your risk for seven out of 10 leading adult causes of death in the U.S.
   • Doubles your risk of becoming a smoker
   • Makes you 7x more likely to struggle with alcohol
   • Increases the risk of attempted suicide by 1200%

1. Having six or more ACEs increases the risk of your lifespan being shortened by 20 years.
2. Watch this six-minute video that explains ACE’s impact on the brain, body, and behavior.

 

Curious what your ACE Score is? Take this assessment to find out.

 

Self Assessment Quiz

Heartly House
24 Hour Hotline: 301.662.8800
 
Heartly House offers 24-Hour hotline/intervention, hospital accompaniment, emergency shelter, counseling services, legal services, abuse intervention programs, human trafficking prevention, community-based services, and resources for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence/intimate partner violence to Frederick County residents. 
 

Rape, Abuse, Incest, National Network (RAINN)
24 Hour Hotline: 800.656.4673
Chat option available

RAINN is the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization, offering the national sexual assault hotline and carrying out programs to prevent sexual violence, help survivors, and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.
 

Sexual Assault Legal Institute (SALI)
301.565.2277 or toll-free at 877.496.7254
 
Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault’s (MCASA) Sexual Assault Legal Institute (SALI) provides pro bono legal services to survivors of sexual violence in Maryland.
 
SALI has Spanish-speaking advocates on staff and will provide language interpretation services for other languages, including ASL.

Health officials consider substance use as crossing the line into substance misuse if that repeated use causes significant impairment, such as:

• Cravings for the substance
• Wanting to cut down but not being able to
• Failure to meet responsibilities like work and school
• Health issues
• Risky use like driving while impaired
• Social issues like problems in relationships

In other words, if someone drinks enough to get frequent hangovers; uses enough drugs that they miss work or school; smokes enough marijuana that they have lost friends; or often drinks or uses more than they intended, their substance use is probably considered misuse or harmful.

Whether the substance involved is crack cocaine or alcohol or a behavior such as gambling, the common denominator of all addictions is continued use despite the development of negative consequences—whether to self, relationships, finances, school, or work performance—and the inability to control use.

Substance misuse is separated into 10 classes of drugs: alcohol; caffeine; cannabis; hallucinogens (e.g. phencyclidine, LSD); inhalants; opioids; sedatives, hypnotics, or anxiolytics; stimulants (e.g. amphetamines, cocaine); tobacco

The first step in recovery is to seek help. There are different levels of treatment made to help individuals with different needs.  Services range from weekly outpatient therapy which can be individual or in a a group, intensive outpatient therapy several days a week, or residential inpatient treatment.

For more information: 
What is addiction?
How to help someone who is addicted
SAMHSA’s National Mental Health and Substance Use Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357)
 

Local Resources

Behavioral Health Services of Frederick County

Need help finding services? 
Call 301-600-1755 or email [email protected]
​
Behavioral Health Services is responsible for inpatient and outpatient community behavioral health services, which include a comprehensive array of services and supports to help individuals with substance-related disorders, mental health disorders, co-occurring disorders, and problem-gambling disorders recover. They offer screening, evaluation, recovery services, prevention programs, and youth support services.

Useful links:
Adult Recovery Services
State of Maryland Behavioral Health Department
Overdose Response Training
Alcohol Misuse Prevention
Opioid Misuse Prevention
Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program
Street Safe Program (sterile syringes, safe disposal, Narcan, wound care, RAD)
24/7 Drug Drop Box
 
Maryland Addiction Recovery Center
Phone: 866-925-5116
Fax: 410-773-0501
Email: [email protected]

Maryland Addiction Recovery Center’s purpose is to, directly and indirectly, help individuals, families, and communities suffering from addiction in whatever way necessary to support sustainable, long-term recovery and allow patients the opportunity to achieve a purpose-driven, high quality of life.

Intensive Outpatient Program or call 866-399-4681
Family Recovery Program or call 866-929-2159
 
Peer-Led Wellness and Recovery Center
On Our Own offers a wide range of support and services, including peer support, daily groups (online and in-person), advocacy, health education, CPRS training, community resources navigation, life skills coaching, and more for those who struggle with mental health challenges and/or substance use disorder in Frederick County and beyond.
Email:  [email protected] or call 240-629-8015
 

Other Maryland Treatment Centers

Ideal Option has over 90 clinics in 11 states and is one of the nation’s largest outpatient providers of evidence-based medication-assisted treatment for addiction to opioids, alcohol, methamphetamine, and other substances. Ideal Option’s mission is to provide underserved populations with low-barrier access to evidence-based addiction treatment.

The Orenada Center of Wellness has residential and outpatient substance use disorder and mental health treatment for men women and adolescents. They are dedicated to providing the highest level of care (including co-occurring diagnosis) through all stages of recovery. Services include four-week residential treatment, twelve-week intensive outpatient, weekly outpatient treatment and medication assisted treatment.

Outreach Recovery has an alcohol, drug and medical detox program as well as addiction rehabilitation for alcohol, heroin, meth, opioids, benzodiazepines, cocaine and fentanyl.

Serentity Treatment Center offers a small, client centered, high-quality clinical program that creates an environment ideal for beginning the unique journey to recovery.  Located in Frederick and Hagerstown.  Call at 301-898-2627.

The Crossroads Center of Frederick offers individual, family and group outpatient therapy.  They provide a holistic treatment approach that supports you mentally, physically, and emotionally and is customized to your needs.
 

Suicide and Crisis Lifeline 
Call: 988
Text: 988
Chat: 988lifeline.org
 The Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available 24/7 to provide free and confidential support for people in distress, as well as to provide prevention and crisis resources. If you are thinking about suicide, are worried about someone you care about, or would like emotional support, the Lifeline is available all day, every day. 

The Trevor Project
866-488-7386 - 24 hour suicide hotline for gay or questioning youth.
 
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Maryland Chapter

 

Dr. Benita Rashaw
Associate Vice President for Student Affairs
Title IX Coordinator for Students
Student Center, H-100A
[email protected]
Office: 301.846.2469
 
Title IX is a federal regulation that prohibits any type of gender-based discrimination in educational settings. Frederick Community College (FCC) has a responsibility to establish and maintain a learning and working environment that is free from sexual misconduct, discrimination, and harassment, and that respects and protects the dignity and value of every member of the College community.
 
Title IX sexual harassment is a form of sexual discrimination prohibited by federal and state discrimination laws, including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and is strictly prohibited by FCC.
 
This Policy and Procedures applies to all members of the College community. Sexual harassment can be committed by a person of any sex or gender identification, and it can occur between people of the same or different sex or gender identification. The full text of the FCC Title IX Sexual Harassment Policy and Procedures can be found here.
 
Frederick Community College provides support and services for reported instances of sexual misconduct, gender-based violence, harassment, stalking, intimate partner/relationship violence, and unequal opportunities based on gender. If a student experiences or witnesses any type of harassment, violence, or discrimination, they should report it to the assistant vice president of student affairs or through the Online Reporting Form.
 
General information regarding Title IX policies can be found here.
 

Everybody has the right to be safe in relationships. The National Domestic Violence Hotline defines domestic violence, also called intimate partner violence, as “a pattern of behaviors used by one partner to maintain power and control over another partner in an intimate relationship.” This includes physical abuse, emotional and verbal abuse, sexual abuse, financial abuse, digital abuse, and stalking.
 
If you are experiencing domestic violence/ intimate partner violence, please contact a counselor or a community resource for additional support and safety planning.
 
Local and National Resources
 
Heartly House
24 Hour Hotline: 301.662.8800
Heartly House offers 24-Hour hotline/intervention, hospital accompaniment, emergency shelter, counseling services, legal services, abuse intervention programs, human trafficking prevention, community-based services, and resources for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence/intimate partner violence to Frederick County residents. 
 
National Domestic Violence Hotline
1.800.799.7233
Text “Start” to 88788
Online Chat 
 
Other hotlines:
If you or someone you know needs help, please contact a hotline for additional support and resources.

• Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence: 1.800.MD.HELPS or 301.429.3601
• National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1.800.656.HOPE (4673), available 24 hours a day
• National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline: 1.866.331.9474; 1.866.331.8453 (TTY)
• National Victims of Crime Hotline: 1.855.4.VICTIM (855.484.2846)
• Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network (RAINN): 800.656.4673
• Stalking Resources Center: 202.467.8700

Strengthening resilience-building skills assists with managing stress. This online resource provides a variety of free tools for mindfulness including mediation, yoga, guided imagery, and virtual calming rooms to help build resiliency and manage stress.  Try it out here.

To ensure the overall wellness and well-being of our College employees, please note we will observe the following “Wellness Days” so we can continue providing dedicated quality service to all.

There will be minimal staffing College-wide on:

Friday, June 7
Friday, June 14
Friday, June 21
Friday, June 28
Friday, July 5
Friday, July 12
Friday, July 19
Friday, July 26

Learn More