Heidi O’Connor Recognized by American College Counseling Association

Heidi O’Connor, a licensed associate professional counselor with Valdosta State University’s Counseling Center, recently received the 2017 Meritorious Service Award from the American College Counseling Association.

VALDOSTA — Heidi O’Connor, a licensed associate professional counselor with Valdosta State University’s Counseling Center, recently received the 2017 Meritorious Service Award from the American College Counseling Association. She was chosen for this honor due to her efforts to promote and support campus mental health, student development, and counseling center teams across the nation. 

“I have such a passion for serving college students, and it’s an honor to be recognized for this by the American College Counseling Association,” she said. “It’s such a lovely gesture to be described as meritorious in a job that I love, while being supported by a wonderful family and my amazing colleagues.”

O’Connor earned a Bachelor of Science in psychology from the University of Maryland University College in Okinawa, Japan, in 2009. She went on to earn a Master of Science in psychology from VSU in 2013. It was during this time that she completed a practicum experience in the on-campus Counseling Center and discovered a passion for working with the university community.

O’Connor joined the VSU Counseling Center team as a counselor in 2014 and was named training coordinator earlier this year. She offers individual, couple, and group counseling; crisis intervention services; and outreach activities for the campus population. Her areas of professional interest include anxiety, stress management, sleep hygiene, multicultural and diversity issues, military and veteran interests, and first generation college student concerns.

O’Connor is a member of the American Counseling Association and the American College Counseling Association.  She enjoys reading, spending time with her husband and daughter, and playing with her dogs in the park.

A division of the American Counseling Association, the American College Counseling Association strives to promote ethical and responsible professional practice, as well as communication and exchange among college counselors across service areas and institutional settings, from two-year community colleges to technical colleges to four-year universities. It encourages cooperation with other organizations related to higher education and college student development and provides leadership and advocacy for the profession of counseling in higher education.

VSU’s Counseling Center offers a variety of free, confidential counseling and consultation services to students. This includes individual and group counseling, workshops and seminars, psychiatric services, a relaxation room with massage chair, aromatherapy, and state-of-the-art biofeedback and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing techniques. It is accredited by the International Association of Counseling Services.