College is often described as a time of discovery. What we talk about less is how much of that discovery happens under pressure. Students are asked to perform, decide, adapt, and persist, often while navigating uncertainty about who they are and who they are becoming.
That reality framed my recent Bulldog Mindset conversation with Dr. Sharon Webb. Our discussion moved across counseling education, student mental health, and college athletics, but at its core was a shared concern for how institutions support students when identity, expectation, and stress intersect.
This reflection draws from that conversation and from Dr. Webb’s work across roles that rarely share the same spotlight. It is a look at resilience not as a slogan, but as a practice shaped by experience, relationships, and steady advocacy.
A path shaped by experience, not certainty
Dr. Webb’s professional journey does not follow a neat or predictable arc. Early academic struggles, life transitions, military family experiences, and work outside higher education all played a role in shaping her eventual return to psychology and counseling.
What stood out in our conversation was how she frames those experiences. They are not presented as detours or mistakes, but as formative moments that deepened her curiosity about people and her capacity for empathy. Rather than pulling her away from her calling, they drew her closer to it.
That perspective matters, especially in a sector that still often assumes linear progress and early certainty. Dr. Webb’s story is a reminder that many of the experiences students worry will derail them may ultimately become the foundation for their most meaningful work.
Preparing students for work that cannot be rushed
As Chair of the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program, Dr. Webb is preparing students for professions that place them directly in moments of crisis, trauma, and vulnerability. In our conversation, she emphasized the importance of foundational knowledge, ethical grounding, and patience.
One phrase she uses with her students captures this well: trust the process, but do not rush the process.
That mindset runs counter to much of what students experience elsewhere. Speed and efficiency are rewarded. Outcomes are emphasized. But counseling is not a field where moving faster leads to better results. Students must learn how to sit with discomfort, reflect before acting, and understand that meaningful change often unfolds over time.
Dr. Webb also spoke candidly about how counselor training requires students to do their own work. Vulnerability, self-awareness, and personal growth are not optional. They are part of professional formation. This kind of learning rarely shows up in program descriptions, but it is essential to preparing students for the realities they will face.
Resilience as a resource, not a deficit
Resilience surfaced repeatedly throughout the episode, but not in the way it is often discussed. Dr. Webb pushed back on the idea that students lack resilience. In her experience, most people already possess it. What they need are the right resources, language, and support to access it.
A particularly powerful part of our conversation focused on self-talk. How students interpret stress. How they frame setbacks. How they recover from failure. Dr. Webb offered a simple but effective reframing strategy. Ask yourself what you would say to a close friend in the same situation, then practice offering that same grace inward.
This approach reframes resilience as something that can be activated and strengthened, rather than demanded or measured. It also acknowledges that stress is not always the result of crisis. Even positive change can accumulate and tax students’ emotional and cognitive capacity if they lack strategies to manage it.
The hidden curriculum of care
When we turned to the idea of the hidden curriculum, Dr. Webb highlighted something that resonates across higher education. Many of the most valuable resources on campus remain underused until students reach a breaking point.
Counseling services. Faculty office hours. Support offices designed not just for recovery, but for maintenance and growth.
Dr. Webb emphasized the importance of students engaging these resources proactively rather than reactively. Seeking support is not a sign of failure. It is a skill. Even brief interactions with faculty or staff can help students feel seen, grounded, and more capable of navigating challenges ahead.
Her comments also reinforced the relational nature of learning. Faculty office hours, informal conversations, and moments of connection may seem peripheral, but they often shape students’ sense of belonging and confidence more than formal structures do.
Advocacy at the intersection of academics and athletics
The second half of our conversation focused on Dr. Webb’s role as Faculty Athletics Representative, a position that remains poorly understood on many campuses. In that role, she serves as a bridge between athletics and the academic mission, advocating for student-athletes as whole people.
Student-athletes carry a distinct set of pressures. Time commitments that resemble full-time work. Performance expectations. Identities closely tied to their sport. Dr. Webb approaches this work through the same lens that guides her counseling practice, with an emphasis on care, connection, and access to support.
What struck me most was her emphasis on presence. Attending games. Being visible. Building trust so that when students need help, they know where to turn. Much of this work happens quietly and behind the scenes, but it shapes the student experience in profound ways.
Why this conversation matters
Listening back to this episode, I was reminded how much of higher education’s impact occurs outside classrooms and away from formal recognition. It happens in preparation. In advocacy. In steady, relational work that rarely fits neatly into reports or metrics.
Dr. Webb’s work spans counseling education, student mental health, and athletics, but the throughline is clear. Students are not problems to be managed or outcomes to be optimized. They are people navigating complex lives, and they deserve care that reflects that reality.
If this episode does anything, I hope it offers a clearer picture of the unseen labor that sustains our institutions and helps students thrive, especially when the pressure is real and the stakes are high.