A miniature zen fountain trickles softly and a bowl of jolly ranchers peers from the counter. Nestled next to the library, the Wellness Center is more than a comfortable reprieve from class.

It is a valuable resource for students, staffed with interns who provide free counseling.

“[When hiring,] I reach out to graduate programs in the Bay Area including Wright Institute, UC Berkeley, St. Mary’s, San Francisco State and JFK,” clinical supervisor Dr. Alisa Crovetti said.

Crovetti, a licensed psychologist, hires and supervises interns working towards Marriage and Family Therapy licenses or clinical psychology doctorates.

Intern Lindsay Zwicker found the Wellness Center at an internship fair last year.

“I really liked the people I met and the fact that it was a called a wellness center,” Zwicker said.

After completing her master’s program in 2010, Zwicker needed 3,000 hours of counseling before taking the licensing exam, which she will tackle this summer.

“Mainly we are here to support students,” Zwicker said. “That can be helping in the middle of a crisis, or sometimes the more day-to-day hardships that come with being a teenager.”

The Wellness Center provides therapy for middle or high school students who are referred for counseling by teachers, parents, friends or themselves.

“No issue is too big or too small,” Zwicker said. “We are here to help with whatever you need help with in your life, and if we don’t know how to help you, we will connect you with someone who can.”

Most of the interns work at the school three days a week, meeting with around 20 students during those days.

“As interns, we are unpaid,” intern Katie Lieberman said. “We are literally doing this because we love to help people.”

Lieberman attended Berkeley High and taught second grade before getting her master’s degree in marriage and family therapy.

“I’m not really here to give advice or answers,” Lieberman said. “But I’m here to walk with teens on their journey into adulthood, which is sort of a scary time.”

Everybody can benefit from therapy, Lieberman said.

“Ideally every student would be allowed to have counseling,” Dr. Richard Austin Heafey said.  “Who doesn’t struggle with something?”

Heafey has worked in settings ranging from hospitals to addiction centers, and he has really enjoyed working with both refugees and children.

He accepted the internship at Piedmont because he felt it was important to diversify his professional background to include teenagers.

“I’d like to be there for the students who go under the radar, who are not being seen or understood,” Heafey said.

Lieberman wants to remove the stigma of therapy, and she wants to raise awareness about the Wellness Center because she feels that it is underutilized.

“I don’t think therapy should be something you dread, something that makes you cry,” she said. “Therapy can be fun.”