Photo by Giovanni Ortiz

By Giovanni Ortiz
Copy Editor 

A soft knock on an open door, and the head of a girl with soft eyes and a half smile pops through. She whispers something that only he can hear, and he let her into his office. The door closes with a soft click, and whatever was said behind those doors stayed between her, the student, and him, the therapist.

Julian Pessier sits behind a tall, brown wooden door talking to students in the Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) department on the second floor of the university’s health center. The office has a long table with eight chairs around it—this is where staff meetings are held. An assortment of plants fill up much of the space, and daylight streams through the window.

Opposite the meeting table is Pessier’s desk, which on a recent day held neat piles of papers, books and his computer. Two chairs were neatly pushed in front of it. Behind them were blue couches set in a horseshoe.

Before he started talking, he straightened his posture, then relaxed and smiled.

“I didn’t have the confidence, or the idea, of how life would turn out,” he said. “I thought college would solve everything. It solved nothing.”

Pessier started working with Stony Brook University’s CAPS as an intern in 1999 to complete his year-long internship requirement to obtain a PhD in psychology.

To finish his dissertation, he stayed with CAPS for four more years, and the director asked him to work part-time. In 2004, he applied for a full-time position as a coordinator for clinical services and in 2013, he became the director of CAPS and its interim associate dean.

This semester, Pessier, along with several colleagues, pioneered a 24/7 hotline for Stony Brook students who need counseling after hours. The team also spread CAPS Talks events to every quad.

When Pessier is not creating programs that help college students cope with their stress and emotions, he is at home with his wife and two daughters, ages seven and 11.  But he sometimes brings his work home with him.

“My kids and my wife would definitely say I’m like that— that I can’t leave my work at work,” said Pessier as he laughed lightly at himself. “Sometimes, whenever we are doing what we love, we’re going to bring it home with us. It’s part of who we are.”

He likes to meet students and get to know them. His welcoming smile and relaxing presence make it easy for students to feel comfortable with him.

Colleague Marissa Clements, a fellow psychologist, describes Pessier as energetic.

“A lot of administrators don’t see students, but Julian is always willing,” Clements said.

Pessier, 43, has a passion for helping students and their transition into college. Not too long ago, he attended University of Houston for his undergraduate degree in psychology. He went through the same transition and journey of finding himself that many of the students that he helps are going through.

Pessier entered college as a pre-med student. After taking psychology courses and liking what he learned about Freud and other psychologists, he “fell in love,” he said, with the study of mental health. He knew what it was like to be a student struggling to find himself and to know what he wanted to do with his future.  

Having been good at math from a young age, Pessier felt pressure to go into the sciences and math from his family, including his father, who was an engineer.

“There is a bias in my family— there is a bias in a lot of families— that if you can do math or science, you should do math or science,” Pessier said, his face growing serious as he sat upright again. “There was a lot of conflict around whether or not I would get the same support if I went with what I increasingly felt was the right direction.  

“And I’ll tell you this, I used my counseling center,” he said.

He expressed sympathy for students who suffer from anxiety and stress.

“It’s really complex” to be a college student, he said. In addition to coursework, “we’re also thinking about our personal hopes, dreams and wishes. We’re also thinking about our families. We’re also thinking about money and debt.”

The 24/7 hotline was his way of helping students when being in college becomes overwhelming.

The hotline is not the only program Pessier has started in his career as a therapist. Pessier started Chaotic Backgrounds as a group for students who come from tough homes and backgrounds, something he described as one of the things he is most proud of.

“This is a hugely important time in students’ lives for shaping the rest of their lives,” he said. “I feel as if that one-on-one connection can make a huge difference.”

Psychology post-doctorate fellow Ariana Robesco wanted to work for Pessier as soon as she had a phone interview with him.  

“He could work anywhere,” she said. “He chooses to be here, and he’s committed to students and CAPS.”

She showed admiration for his ability to balance the science and the art of his job as the director of CAPS.

In his dissertation, Pessier argued that patients should figure out themselves on their own. Therapists should guide patients by giving them simple answers to the many complex questions that many people have about themselves and the world.

There is one question he asks himself every four years when it is time for the presidential election: Why do people like the outrageous things that some politicians say?

Unwilling to give away his partisanship, he said that he loved to watch the “horserace of political races.” He said he is intrigued by how politicians think and how they get their message across.

He said he finds it interesting how voters choose their president. At the mention of Donald Trump and Ben Carson, the two leading Republican candidates for the presidency, Pessier laughed and compared Donald Trump to Ross Perot, a Texan billionaire who ran as an Independent presidential candidate in 1992 and a Reform Party presidential candidate in 1996. Perot, to whom Trump is often compared, worried about Mexicans taking American jobs and led with favorable numbers throughout the campaign but lost to Bill Clinton both times.

“While some other folks might like him, some other folks might be scared of him, I’m just constantly fascinated,” he said, tapping the table to emphasize his main point. “What is he speaking to that some people feel excited about?”

He smiled.

“It’s a little bit like I am as a therapist,” he said. “I don’t judge people. I get curious about them.”