Educator Profile: Martha Coulter

By Gillian Galle

In keeping with our theme of self-care this week, I reached out to one of our educators that is on the front line of helping our students learn to take care of themselves: Martha Coulter. Over the course of her 10 years here at Castleton, she has played an important role championing the work of the Student Support Network, the Peer Advocates for Change, and most recently the Student Wellness Task Force!

On any given day you can expect to find Martha responding to concerns about students voiced by their professors, coaches, or other staff members, collaborating with them to create a network to support the students, meeting with students in individual appointments, and planning educational and prevention events and presentations among other things! To hear Martha explain it:

I strive to be a partner to faculty and staff who are looking for information and resources to support their students. I hope that we are providing students a safe haven where they can develop self-awareness and where they can learn to develop healthy coping skills and strategies to manage the challenges they face and go on to lead satisfying and productive lives.

In my counseling role, I would just love to say that I help to solve all of the problems that students bring with them when they seek assistance! Rather, I see myself as an empathic and knowledgeable companion and guide, offering resources and tools to help students develop the resilience and strength they need to manage their lives.

I suspect her past experiences as a teacher at MSJ, a live-in counselor at Wellesley College, and as a school psychologist in the Rutland area give her a unique perspective on what kinds of support to provide our students. Collaboration and community building are requisite components of her previous positions. It’s no wonder then that Martha hopes she’s brought those traits to bear here at Castleton; that the Wellness Center is seen as part of a supportive network of faculty and staff who care about the well-being of our students and who want to help them thrive. For what it’s worth, I think the effects of Martha’s care and compassion on our students’ education clearly shine through in the Castleton-wide community net she’s helped build to catch them.