By Jondi Gumz
If not for her therapist, Eve Nichols might not be here, a proud 2021 graduate of Cabrillo College with a future ahead of her.
Despite dealing with suicidal ideation, despite the COVID-19 pandemic turning her world upside down and forcing her classes and activities online, she survived — and is thriving.
How?
“The support system I was able to build at Cabrillo,” said Nichols, 21, who lives in Watsonville with her mom and two brothers.
Eve Nichols celebrates her graduation from Cabrillo College.
Nichols, who earned a diploma at Sequoia continuation high school, discovered she wasn’t prepared academically for Cabrillo College.
Her first year, she took courses in English and math that didn’t give her credits transferable to a four-year university.
She had to start at the lowest level of math.
She persisted.
“My mom’s really supportive,” she said. “She’s the reason I went to the college.”
She connected with Avelar, a family therapist in Aptos, after being reported to the dean at Cabrillo.
“I have cold-induced asthma,” Nichols said. “I was kicked out of class for coughing.”
No doubt embarrassing at the time, the incident led the campus nurse-practitioner and then Avelar contacting her.
“We’ve built a great relationship,” Nichols said of Avelar, whom she has known for three years.
Still, thoughts of suicide were never far away.
With “a lot going on at my home,” Nichols overdosed.
She swallowed a bottleful of Xanax pills, a drug classified as a benzodiazepine, prescribed for anxiety, but it can cause depression and thoughts of suicide.
Avelar called her in the middle of this episode and called 911 for an ambulance.
That was a turning point.
“So many great people at Cabrillo are there for me,” Nichols said.
“I don’t struggle mentally like I did before. I feel very blessed.”
Suicide Trends
Overdose deaths accelerated nationwide in 2020 in wake of the COVID-19 outbreak changing life as we know it beginning in March with lockdowns, stay-at-home orders, toilet paper shortages, music venues, wineries and bars, gyms and yoga studios closed, capacity limits for stores, and requirements for restaurants to halt indoor service and offer takeout only.
Santa Cruz County bucked the trend of increasing suicides, with 32 in 2020 compared to 49 in 2019, according to county coroner Stephany Fiore.
Eve Nichols might have among them if not for Dianne Avelar and the support she got at Cabrillo from Letitia Scott-Curtis, who teaches English, Denise Colosi, who teaches math, Lisa Kirk-Williams, her mentor at the math learning center, and student activities coordinator Alta Northcutt, her advisor.
After starting at the bottom in math, Nichols advanced to calculus.
She took advantage of tutoring at the math learning center, and got a job there herself helping other students.
For her, the key was understanding that math is a different language.
“You can’t give up, you have to keep going,” she said.
“Alta Northcutt changed my life too,” she added. “I always admired her spirit. She lights up a room. Her laugh is contagious.”
Nichols connected with her after she was elected to the Cabrillo Student Senate and then chaired the Intern Club Council, which is under the Student Senate.
Representatives of all 13 active student clubs get together every two weeks, share updates and report on their activities and events.
“It’s a place to build community,” Nichols said. “It’s nice to see how many people were motivated to put in the extra work.”
Of course, those get-togethers moved to Zoom online after the pandemic arrived.
She didn’t let the loss of face-to-face interactions get in the way.
“I still built great relationships,” she said.
“It definitely got me out of my comfort zone,” she said. “Alta helped me grow a lot and speak up for injustice.”
With the switch to classes online, Nichols felt the focus shifted to “can teachers teach online?” with less focus on student success.
“It’s scary to feel you’re rocking the boat,” she said.
Nevertheless, she was compelled to speak up.
Nichols, who is one of 1,240 graduates in Cabrillo’s Class of 2021, is transferring to UC Santa Barbara to major in psychology.
“I think I want to be a therapist or come back to Cabrillo,” she said.