Meet Kayla Bell-Consolver
The lamp's warm glow in her office is no match for the full-wattage smile that Kayla Bell-Consolver flashes.
She is everything that you'd want in a leader and a therapist: confident, knowledgeable, and empathetic.
She feels like someone that anyone could connect with.
Bell-Consolver is the Director of the Drake Student Counseling Center. She has held the position since 2021.
She is also a Drake alumnus who completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees there.
"To be back here is a reminder of my purpose. I remind myself of why I came to Drake in the first place: to do what I am doing now. When I work with students, I understand their experiences because I've lived those experiences. Especially when I work with students of color and various groups - I can connect. It's a beautiful experience," she says.
Her journey into the mental health field began long before she studied at Drake.
"I was in high school when I realized I wanted to help people."
She was a sophomore when a student at her high school died by suicide. She recalls how it impacted her and her friends.
"It rocked me to my core, and I didn't even know the student, but many of my friends were devastated. It bothered me that someone was in so much pain and didn't feel or know they had support."
Bell-Consolver wanted to make a difference and became active in groups that dealt with student mental health.
What she learned in high school shaped her life.
"Here I am 15 years later, still thinking about that student," she says.
The student at her high school is a story she often shares to illustrate her passion for mental health and, even more importantly, when talking about equity.
"When I think of equity, the words that come up are accessibility, resources, and emotional literacy – do we have access to all these things to care for ourselves?"
She believes that Black clinicians and more clinicians of color are needed in mental health.
"More clinicians. More representation. The mental health field is not representative of us. Black clinicians are getting burned out trying to create equity individually. We can't. There's not enough of us. So many of us need help, and we must focus on collective support," Bell-Consolver stresses.
For her, collective support comes from the larger community and various organizations she is a part of and leads. She is a certified One Iowa-approved inclusive provider for the LQBTQ+ community and a member of the 2022 class of One Iowa's LGBTQ Leadership Institute.
Bell-Consolver is also the current Iowa Mental Health Association president and a member of the National Physical and Mental Health Subcommittee for her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Another aspect of her work is presenting and training, which means educating as many people as possible.
"I like large groups. I can reach so many more people. That's where the power is. I like to empower people and leave them with tools and things they can do to help themselves. I include social media. It's a big part of accessing and sharing information; and destigmatizes mental health."
As a licensed mental health counselor, Bell-Consolver utilizes various modalities and specializes in trauma-informed practices that center LGBTQ+ and BIPOC experiences.
Kayla Bell-Consolver can be reached at questionkayla28@gmail.com.
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Great article!
Love!