Health and counseling services welcomes new director

The corner office on the second floor of Crawford has a new occupant, Jackie Concodora, Winthrop’s new director of health and counseling services.

“Winthrop has been wonderful. It’s been extremely helpful and inviting. I’ve been exposed to the university since my husband started in the mass communication department last fall, and I’m continuing to be impressed with the caliber of the faculty and staff,” Concodora said.

Before coming to Winthrop, Concodora was an associate director for Mental Health Access Point in Cincinnati, an agency that provides help to those that need to access public mental health services.

As the director at Winthrop, Concodora oversees the departments encompassed by the health and counseling services, including wellness, testing, disability services and victims assistance.

“I like to have a diversity of experience at my work as opposed to doing strictly one thing or another,” she said.

In addition to her administrative duties, Concodora hopes to counsel students in the fall, but because of her move from Ohio to S.C., she  is having trouble transferring her  counseling license. She is currently enrolled as a graduate student in the counseling education department at Winthrop in order to meet S.C.’s license requirements and should have her license by May.

“I like a balance of administration and counseling. It’s important to maintain clinical skills. Students are the population we serve, and it’s important to stay in touch with their needs and the issues that they’re dealing with,” she said.

Barely two weeks into the position, Concodora is still learning the expectations of her role in the health and counseling department.

“One of the things that I’ve heard repeatedly is the need for Crawford to be renovated. This is a very old building. It’s a wonderful building with a lot of character, but we need more space,” she said about future goals for the department.

As for goals for students, Concodora would like to see counseling  ervices expanded to have better availability for the campus. She plans on taking advantage of everything that is available at both Winthrop and the health and counseling services department.

“I’m just very happy to be here and to have this opportunity to work with students,” she said.