Midwestern University Student Counseling

Midwestern University Student Counseling Providing mental health support, care, and resources for the wonderful students of Midwestern Univ. Call at (866) 349-5575.

MWU provides licensed mental health counselors on campus to help you successfully negotiate life's issues, both academic and personal. Their mission is to provide services that facilitate the personal and professional growth and development of students, while fostering a healthy and caring University community. We strive to support the academic, social, and emotional health of students and meet the needs of the healthcare community. Our counselors will help you to set goals to do your best to manage your emotions, to function more efficiently, and to be successful. We believe you have the ability to be resilient and can help you to develop that resiliency. Counseling is designed to provide support and insight regarding issues, concerns, and mental health needs of all students of Midwestern University.

**To schedule an appointment with one of our counselors please email: [email protected]

We also provide the Student Assistance Program (SAP), which is available anytime 24/7 as a confidential and free service for students. You will be directly connected with a licensed counselor. The counselor will be able to assist you with your present concern as well as connect you with a provider in your area if further assistance is needed. The SAP website is: myahpcare.personaladvantage.com. Type in the Company code: AHP1

If you need counseling or mental health assistance during regular business hours and the counselors are unavailable, please contact the Office of Student Services at 623-572-3210.

**If you or someone you know is thinking about harming themselves, contact:
- EMPACT Suicide Prevention Center Suicide/Crisis Hotlines, 24 hours/7 days 480-736-4952, Toll-Free Statewide 1-866-205-5229
- Call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (available 24 hrs)
- 911, or go to the nearest emergency room.

10/03/2026

What if the person you’ve been hardest on is the younger version of you who was simply trying to figure out how to feel safe? 🤍

Our very own, Student Counselor, Michael Dixon offers a powerful image of coming face-to-face with our younger selves. In therapy, inner child work can involve noticing the emotions, beliefs, fears, and coping patterns we learned early in life—and recognizing how they may still show up in adulthood.

For students in demanding professional programs, that younger part of us can sometimes be heard in thoughts like: I have to get this right. I can’t disappoint anyone. I should be doing more. I’m only as good as my performance.

Inner child work invites a different response: curiosity instead of criticism.

What did I need then?
What am I still trying to prove?
Whose expectations am I carrying?
What would it sound like to speak to myself with the compassion I would offer that younger version of me?

Healing doesn’t require erasing the past. Sometimes it begins with understanding how the past continues to shape the way we respond to ourselves in the present—and realizing that we can choose something different now.

You can be the safe, compassionate voice your younger self needed.

If this brings something up for you, MWU AZ Student Counseling is here to provide a confidential space to explore it. 📧 [email protected]

🧠 MWU Mental Health Minute | Week 4: Impostor Phenomenon (Syndrome)“Everyone else seems to know what they’re doing.”“May...
09/15/2026

🧠 MWU Mental Health Minute | Week 4: Impostor Phenomenon (Syndrome)

“Everyone else seems to know what they’re doing.”
“Maybe I just got lucky.”
“What if they eventually realize I’m not as capable as they think?”

Sound familiar?

Impostor phenomenon can make capable, accomplished people question whether they truly deserve their success—even when there is plenty of evidence that they do.

And in a room full of other high achievers, comparison can make those doubts even louder.

🔬 Research → Real Life

Impostor feelings have been studied extensively among students and professionals in healthcare and have been associated with greater psychological distress and burnout.

But here’s something worth remembering:

Feeling inadequate isn’t the same as being inadequate.

💡 Try an evidence check.

When your brain says, “I don’t belong here,” ask:

What evidence actually supports that thought—and what evidence contradicts it?

Consider the things anxiety and self-doubt tend to leave out: the work you’ve completed, challenges you’ve overcome, feedback you’ve received, skills you’ve developed, and the fact that learning something difficult naturally involves moments of uncertainty.

Then try replacing:

❌ “I should already know this.”

with:

💙 “I’m here to learn this.”

You don’t have to feel confident every moment to be capable.

If comparison, perfectionism, fear of failure, or feeling like you’re going to be “found out” is affecting your well-being, we can help you work through it.

💙 MWU Student Counseling Services
📧 [email protected]

This Labor Day, we’re celebrating more than hard work. We’re celebrating the importance of rest, recovery, and taking ca...
09/07/2026

This Labor Day, we’re celebrating more than hard work. We’re celebrating the importance of rest, recovery, and taking care of the person doing all that hard work. 💙

For our MWU students: Your education asks a lot of you. Taking time to pause, recharge, connect, laugh, sleep, or simply do nothing for a while isn’t time wasted—it’s part of sustaining yourself for the work ahead.

Enjoy the long weekend, Healthy Healers. 🌿

MWU Student Counseling: Our office is closed today to “practice what we preach.” 😉
📧 [email protected]

✨ MWU Mental Health Minute | Week 3: PerfectionismIn demanding academic environments, it can be easy to believe that doi...
09/01/2026

✨ MWU Mental Health Minute | Week 3: Perfectionism

In demanding academic environments, it can be easy to believe that doing well means doing everything perfectly.

But excellence and perfectionism aren’t the same thing.

🔬 Research suggests that perfectionistic concerns—including fear of mistakes, harsh self-evaluation, and feeling pressure to meet unrealistic expectations—are associated with greater psychological distress.

High standards can help us grow. The problem comes when our self-worth starts depending on whether we meet them.

💡 This week, try asking yourself:
“What would good enough look like here?”

Maybe the assignment doesn’t need another hour of editing.
Maybe one imperfect exam doesn’t define your ability.
Maybe resting isn’t something you have to earn.

You can be ambitious and compassionate toward yourself.
You can strive for excellence without demanding perfection. 💙

If perfectionism, self-criticism, fear of failure, or pressure to perform is getting in the way of your well-being, we’re here to help.

💙 MWU Student Counseling Services
📧 [email protected]

Research Spotlight:
Callaghan, T., Greene, D., Shafran, R., Lunn, J., & Egan, S. J. (2024). The relationships between perfectionism and symptoms of depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 53(2), 121–132. https://doi.org/10.1080/16506073.2023.2277121

😴 MWU Mental Health Minute | Week 2: Sleep & Your Brain📚 Studying longer isn’t always learning better.When the workload ...
08/25/2026

😴 MWU Mental Health Minute | Week 2: Sleep & Your Brain

📚 Studying longer isn’t always learning better.

When the workload piles up, sleep can start to feel negotiable. Just one more chapter. One more lecture. One more hour…

But your brain is doing important work while you sleep.

🔬 Research → Real Life

A 2024 meta-analysis examining 125 effects from 39 reports and 1,234 participants found that restricting sleep to 3–6.5 hours was associated with poorer memory formation compared with normal sleep.

In other words: cutting sleep to create more study time may come at a cost to the very learning you’re trying to accomplish.

💡 Try this:
Instead of treating sleep as what happens after everything else gets done, make it part of your study plan. Set a stopping time, protect a wind-down period, and give your brain time to consolidate what you learned.

And if stress, anxiety, racing thoughts, or an overwhelming workload are regularly interfering with your sleep, you don’t have to figure it out alone.

💙 MWU Student Counseling Services
Confidential support is available to MWU students.
📧 [email protected]

Research Spotlight:
Crowley, R., Alderman, E., Javadi, A.-H., & Tamminen, J. (2024). A systematic and meta-analytic review of the impact of sleep restriction on memory formation. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 167, 105929. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105929

Educational information only; not a substitute for professional care.

08/21/2026

YOU DID IT!!!! 🎓🎉

Celebrating our newest MWU graduates from yesterday!
We were out there cheering you on and celebrating this incredible milestone with you. 💙

Your MWU Student Counseling team is cheering you on, ALWAYS! 💙

🎓 Welcome, new MWU students!Today we had the opportunity to connect with our newest students during New Student Orientat...
08/17/2026

🎓 Welcome, new MWU students!

Today we had the opportunity to connect with our newest students during New Student Orientation and talk about something that matters from day one: taking care of the person behind the future healthcare professional. 💙

As you begin this next chapter, remember—you don’t have to navigate the challenges of professional school alone.

MWU Student Counseling Services is here to support you along the way.

Here’s to a great year, Healthy Healers! 🌿

📧 [email protected]

🧠 MWU Mental Health Minute: When Stress Becomes AnxietyA certain amount of stress can help us focus, prepare, and respon...
08/16/2026

🧠 MWU Mental Health Minute: When Stress Becomes Anxiety

A certain amount of stress can help us focus, prepare, and respond to challenges. But more stress doesn’t always mean better performance.

When anxiety becomes intense or persistent, attention may shift away from the task at hand and toward worry, physical sensations, or feared outcomes. For students in demanding health-professions programs, that can make studying, testing, clinical performance, and even relaxing afterward more difficult.

🔬 Research → Real Life

Instead of only asking, “How stressed am I?” try asking:

“Is my stress helping me respond to this challenge—or interfering with my ability to respond?”

Signs it may be time for additional support can include:
• Difficulty concentrating because of worry
• Avoiding classes, studying, exams, or responsibilities
• Persistent physical symptoms of anxiety
• Sleep disruption
• Feeling unable to “turn your brain off”
• Anxiety interfering with your relationships or daily life

💡 Try this:
When anxiety rises, identify the next controllable action rather than trying to solve the entire problem at once.

And remember: You don’t have to wait until things feel overwhelming to talk with someone.

💙 MWU Student Counseling Services
Confidential support is available to MWU students by Licensed Practitioners.

📧 [email protected]

(Educational information only; not intended as individualized mental health treatment.)

08/05/2026

One of the hardest things to do as human beings is to sit with our human emotions. Yet, the more we resist, the more powerful they become.

Emotions aren’t problems to solve—they’re experiences to acknowledge. When we allow ourselves to notice them with curiosity instead of judgment, they begin to move through us rather than control us.

Discomfort isn’t a sign that something is wrong. Sometimes, it’s a sign that something important is asking for our attention.

What emotion have you been trying to push away lately? 💙

07/16/2026

It’s a Crabulous Affair!!
Friday, July 17th, 11-1!!
See you all there!!
🦀🥂🎂

Address

19555 N 59th Ave
Glendale, AZ

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 4:30pm
Tuesday 8am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 8am - 4:30pm
Thursday 8am - 4:30pm
Friday 8am - 4:30pm

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