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Sislena Grocer Ledbetter: WWU associate VP of Counseling, Health and Wellness

CDN's weekly community profile

Sislena Grocer Ledbetter smiles outside the Counseling and Wellness Center on the fifth floor of Old Main at Western Washington University in December. (Finn Wendt/Cascadia Daily News)
By Julia Tellman Local News Reporter

Sislena Ledbetter (she/her)

Age: 56

City: Ferndale

Lived here for: 5 years

Originally from: White Plains, New York

Notable: Mental health expert, higher education administrator, board member for League of Women Voters of Bellingham/Whatcom.

What brought you to Western Washington University?

I got a phone call from a recruiter, who said, ‘I’ve got this position that I think would be perfect for you.’ And I said, ‘I’m tenure-track faculty. I am good.’ But I opened it and I saw that this job was the executive director of counseling, health and wellbeing in a place called Bellingham. The only place I had been in Washington was Bellingham, because my baby cousin was in the Navy, and he passed away in 2015 so I came here for the services. 

I was like, if this was a good enough place for my cousin, I need to at least give it a chance. It was an amazing opportunity to serve a group of folks who really seemed to like the brand of what I was selling, which was connection, community, belonging, hope, innovation, creativity, all of the things.

How's WWU treating you?

I landed in the right place with the right people. The students here are really great. We serve a diverse student body, and we know we are a destination school. We would love for students to say the reason that they come to Western is that we are an amazing school, and we are, but they really love the fact that we are in a place that has been so well preserved by our Indigenous neighbors.

What's one initiative you're working on?

My goal is to train everyone that wants to be trained in mental health first aid, because it equips people to recognize the signs of crisis and distress that may lead to suicide attempts. And I would love to be able to provide training, both on campus and off campus for our community partners. I think we would be not just serving the greater Bellingham community, but also our students in the various places where they live, work, love, play and hang out.

Are the kids OK?

I think that kids were in crisis even before the pandemic. And the pandemic has sort of ripped the Band-Aid off and said, ‘Look, you can no longer ignore that our young people are struggling.’ I think life has become so complicated. I think it’s a combination of variables that has created this perfect storm of mental health challenges for our youth. And what it means is the adults in the room need to sit up in their chair and pay attention. We just really need to listen to our kids and take them seriously. The idea of belonging is super critical. 

What the research has shown us is that faculty, particularly on college campuses, are gatekeepers of student wellbeing. We know that they spend 14 to 18 hours in front of faculty every week, so we need to have a workforce that is trained and prepared to deal with these students coming to our campus from all walks of life. 

We don’t want students graduating from Western with just a degree. We want whole students. We want students to have participated in a rich developmental journey that prepares them for post-graduation. Whether that’s grad school, whether they pursue a career, whether they take off and start a family — we want them to be as whole a human as possible when they leave here.

What do you think WWU could be doing better?

I would like to expand our reach and be known more as a community school, as a school that is embraced and integrally and intentionally connected with our community. I went to a jazz spot in Vancouver several months ago, and I just remember how the energy of UBC was everywhere. And I thought, ‘Wow, this is a school that really invests in the community.’ I would like for Western to just do more investing in the community in ways that matter to them.


“Faces in the Crowd” is published online and in print Fridays. Have a suggestion for a “Faces in the Crowd” subject? Email us at newstips@cascadiadaily.com.

Julia Tellman writes about civic issues and anything else that happens to cross her desk; contact her at juliatellman@cascadiadaily.com.

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