Mental Health Counseling Staff

Karla Maria Steffens, LMSW, Counselor (she/her/hers)

Karla draws on twenty years of theatre teaching and directing to inform her work with individual students, couples, families and groups, taking a humanistic, intersectional, multicultural, feminist, strength-based approach that recognizes the importance and value of each person, meeting them where they are at in the present moment. She holds certifications in Drama and Play Therapy, AutPlay (Art Therapy with neuro-diverse individuals), TAC (Training in Adoption Competency), Sexual Assault and Domestic and Partner Violence, and uses a variety of approaches, including: CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), Gestalt, Holistic, and Solution Focused Motivational Interviewing to assist students in addressing: depression, anxiety, grief, loss, self-harm, addiction, disordered eating and/or body concerns, trauma, abuse, sexual assault, academic concerns, gender identity, and relationship issues (Het and LGBTQIA+).

Miriam McConnell, MA, NCC,  Counselor (she/her/hers)

I enjoy working with students from various sociocultural backgrounds with a diversity of mental health needs including anxiety/stress, depression, adjustment to the demands of college life, crisis and trauma (including racial trauma), relationship/interpersonal concerns, identity concerns, loss and grief, life planning/transitions, and substance abuse. I aim to offer a safe, welcoming, and destigmatized space for all students where they can be empowered and equipped to make progress towards their mental health, wellness, and life goals. Using an integrated, collaborative and strengths-based approach, I explore issues with students through a holistic, multicultural lens where we look at how issues may be related to the intersectionality of life experiences, relationships, physical wellness, sociocultural identities, and personality.

Carol Zerbe Enns, Ph.D., part-time volunteer Counselor

I am a licensed psychologist, former (retired) Professor of Psychology at Cornell College, and am now volunteering part-time at the Counseling Center as a staff Counselor.  Although my past interactions with Cornell students have typically occurred in academic contexts, my priorities include understanding individuals from a holistic perspective and their lives outside the classroom. I am prepared to work with a range of concerns such as anxiety and stress, depression, relationship concerns, life planning and life transition issues, coping with crisis and trauma, loss and grief issues, identity concerns, and academic issues. My counseling approach is informed by meaning-focused psychotherapies as well as multicultural, feminist, and social justice approaches to psychotherapy.  I also seek to use tools that are respectful of the worldviews and strengths of persons with whom I work and that support their resilience.