Opening Closed Doors: A Rationale for Creating a Safe Space for Tutors Struggling with Mental Health Concerns or Illnesses

Because writing centers exist to help students find success in academia—to enter doors that may otherwise be closed to them—writing center literature rightly discusses the need to work with students of all backgrounds and abilities (Pemberton; Neff; Hamel). Writing center personnel have written about how writing centers and other campus resources can support students with disabilities (Hewett; Logan; Zimmerman), as well as the diverse ways in which these students learn and what we, in turn, can learn from them. The field actively recognizes that writing centers and student support centers in general are actually engaging in political advocacy, a fact that has been noted in this very publication.University Writing Cente