Purdue alumna ready to serve through CARES Hub
College offers many new opportunities to enrich students’ daily schedules. It also presents many new challenges, including how to balance those clubs and social occasions with schoolwork, jobs and internships, and growing into an adult.
Jennie Beutler remembers the transition well. While earning her dual degrees in sociology and youth/adult and family studies, she also held internships and joined clubs. When she could, she also attended basketball and football games. She graduated in 2012 and earned her master’s in social work two years later, still balancing work and life with academic demands.
Through her studies and everyday life, Beutler gathered experience with professional growth, communicating well with her colleagues and regulating her emotions.
The transition to adulthood can be distressing for some. To alleviate some of the stress, the College of Engineering created a “low-barrier, high-access support for (students’) mental health and well-being needs” through the CARES Hub (Community, Assistance and Resources for Engineering Students). The Hub opened in 2024 as a space for students to relax, engage in community, try therapy and more.
"College is a developmental leap,” said Beutler, a counseling and psychological services (CAPS) therapist embedded at the CARES Hub. “I want to serve students as they navigate that new step and all that comes with it.”
Her decade of work in mental health therapy, social work and student services coordination equip her to serve students with intersectionality in mind. Beutler’s specialty lies in systems theory, which examines the family and community in which a student lives to form a clear roadmap to success within their lives. Her one-on-one sessions are solution-focused and client-centered with no set curriculum. Students direct the sessions and, with Beutler’s guidance, explore the systems in their lives that contribute to their growth, decision-making abilities and ambitions. Most importantly, Beutler mentions, she provides a space for students to be heard and understood.
"I am literally a person that is there for a student with no other obligations,” Beutler said.
Beutler seeks to help students build a network of support, both on and off campus. She and the CARES Hub advocate for increased access to professors and staff on campus and empower students to be mentors and advocates for one another. Beutler’s heart for serving, combined with her professional experience, put her in the optimal position to guide students through personal growth, career decisions and interpersonal relationships.
Beutler looks forward to offering in-depth group sessions to explore emotional management and interpersonal communication in the future. In the spring of 2025, she will assist CARES Hub director Kristy Eaton with the Certified Peer Educator Training Course (ENGR 49600), which enables students to earn national peer educator certifications. She is excited to support students as they work as peer educators.
For students who have never tried counseling, Beutler encourages students to utilize her walk-in hours or an appointment for a low-stakes trial run.
“If it’s weighing on (a student’s) mind, (CARES Hub counseling) is easy access, no cost and low pressure,” Beutler said. “This is a good clinic with lots of support for (students).”
More information on the CARES Hub and services can be found online or by visiting Room 1261 in Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering.