The sixth verse of the Auburn Creed is the first thing visible when visiting the Auburn Cares page online.
“I believe in the human touch, which cultivates sympathy with my fellow men and mutual helpfulness and brings happiness for all,” the line reads.
This program, now located in Suite 1115 of the Student Center, was created with the goal of helping students through difficulties during their time on campus.
Auburn Cares was started in 2011 and is free to students. Katherine Hettinger, manager of Auburn Cares, worked as the sole student advocate and case manager until 2017, when she was joined by Sarah Grace Walters, Auburn grad. Hettinger manages the 24-7, on-call critical incident response team.
Walters received her master’s degrees and education-specialist degrees in mental health counseling from Florida State University.
“We want to be helpful to students, and really, my main goal is that if you are having an issue that you get the support that you need and get connected with whatever supports and programs that are available to help you.” Walters said.
She said she hopes more students will become aware of Auburn Cares in the coming years.
Walters has worked to increase campus awareness of Auburn Cares by leading presentations featuring student-led panels. Her presentation to Auburn’s new faculty focused on student’s struggles.
The office maintains relationships with colleges across campus, so that when any new faculty comes in, they can become aware of the resources that Auburn Cares provides.
Campus Safety and Security as well as the Auburn Police Division are also in connection with the program, so if any student is involved in things such as a car accident, they can reach out and provide any assistance they might need.
“Most of the time when students are referred to us, I am actively reaching out to them to say, ‘Hey, someone told me about what happened, so how can I help? What’s going on?’” Walters said. “Like in the case of a student who recently had a parent pass away, I reached out and talked to them about counseling services and let them know if they are going to be out from classes I can help with that.”
Students and faculty can make anonymous reports online and get more contact information for Auburn Cares at aucares.auburn.edu.
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