LSU Counselor Education Graduate becomes LSU Director of Mental Health
November 8, 2021
BATON ROUGE, LA - Raime Thibodeaux, MA, LPC-S, NCC, served as Associate Director of Mental Health for LSU starting in the Spring of
2020. When the former director vacated the position to pursue other interests, Thibodeaux
decided to take a leap of faith and apply to become the new Director of Mental Health
in the LSU Student Health Center. After an intensive interview process, Thibodeaux
became the first ever Licensed Professional Counselor to hold the position of LSU
Director of Mental Health. Thibodeaux earned her BA in psychology from LSU and went
on to attend the LSU’s counselor education program where she earned her MA in counseling.
She worked as a counselor and mental health director at higher-education institutions
across Louisiana for 14 years before “coming home” to LSU.
As a first-generation college graduate, Thibodeaux was drawn to working with the college-aged
population very early on in her graduate school journey. When asked why she loves
working with this population, Thibodeaux said, “College students are going through
immense transitional times. They’re developing their identity and figuring out their
own values. This is an amazing time in student’s lives, but it can also be a very
difficult one. I remember how challenging and transformative the college experience
was for me and so working with this population is one way of me paying it forward.”
Thibodeaux currently leads LSU Mental Health with confidence and grace; she also works
to ensure there continues to be a steady pipeline of counseling interns at the center.
Thibodeaux says, “I think the presence of Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC) has
grown at LSU Mental Health because when we first started being able to intern here
around 10 years ago, we were doing really good work. The counseling interns illuminated
the fact that our professional discipline could be hired here and be an asset to the
interdisciplinary team.” Of course, there are other disciplines actively working at
the center as well. The LSU Mental Health team is currently staffed by psychologists,
psychiatrists, licensed professional counselors, and clinical social workers. Thibodeaux
says, “It’s wonderful to be in a place where the different disciplines [counseling,
social work, psychology, psychiatry] can work together. We all bring a unique sense
of understanding and skill to the table.”
Thibodeaux and her team want to increase access and decrease wait time at LSU Mental
Health. Thibodeaux stated that a goal for the future would be building up staffing
appropriately to match the high demand the center is seeing. There’s high demand and
hard work, but Thibodeaux is passionate about the profession. She says, “It’s such
an honor and a privilege to have a job where people come to you in pain or struggling.
They’re vulnerable with you about things they don’t talk to anyone else about. It’s
up to you, as a counselor, to accept that vulnerability with all the respect and reverence
it deserves.”