Brigitte Ortiz | THE RIDER
DreamStar Free Online Counseling Services was created by a UTRGV professor in March 2020 in response to social-distancing guidelines set during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has helped over 300 individuals.
Gregory Scott Sparrow, a professor in the Counseling Department, said student counselors who normally see clients in person were suddenly unable to meet with them when the COVID-19 shutdown started.
“The university asked me what could we do since I’m a web designer and I do a lot of online work, so I [suggested] we start a telehealth counseling service,” Sparrow said. “So, in a couple of weeks, I built a website and the students began promoting the service, which was DreamStar Free Online Counseling, to, you know, anybody that we could talk to. And pretty soon, we had a good number of people coming in to do counseling telehealth on Zoom.”
DreamStar provides online dream-sharing groups, with or without therapeutic contact, individual dreamwork-assisted counseling, and individual, couples and family counseling.
“It also provides dream-sharing groups, which [are] very popular, … and also relationship groups for adults,” Sparrow said. “And now, we’re going to have a group for teenage girls.”
Students can meet with a counselor weekly or every other week. He said counselors set up appointments for 12 weeks since the semester lasts about 15.
“If they need counseling beyond the semester, like in May, when the semester ends, we may be able to see them through the gap,” Sparrow said. “There’s a gap of about a week and a half, and then they can continue working through the summer and fall, for that matter, so we have provisions for letting them continue if they need too.”
He said DreamStar has established an ecosystem that allows the students and clients to have a meaningful online experience.
“We are applying for federal tax, nonprofit status so that we can keep our project going and, perhaps, attract donations from people who might want to see the service continue,” Sparrow said.
Amanda Guerrero, a graduate student, has been working at DreamStar for about five months and has completed 20 hours of direct counseling.
“We have clients coming in, we’re trying to recruit clients constantly through social media, so hopefully our hours start rising a little bit more,” Guerrero said.
She said she decided to join because she thought it was a great way to support what her professor, Sparrow, was doing.
“And not only that, DreamStar offers different services that I’ve never had the opportunity to try before, so like the dream-sharing groups,” Guerrero said. “And I felt, like, that would be such an amazing opportunity to try something new.”
Asked what her experience has been like, she replied that it has been good because they work with work with people from all over the world.
She said she would tell people who may be struggling, even though it is hard, to ask for help. Sometimes, it is essential.
“There’s so many people here, at DreamStar, that are willing to help them and want to help them and make the changes that they want to make for themselves,” Guerrero said. “So, even though the first step of reaching out might be hard, there’s someone on the other side that is willing to help you.”
To sign up for counseling, visit onlinecounselinggroups.net and fill out the intake form and symptom checklist.
