Poignant and Thought-Provoking, “The College Shrink” Seeks to Unravel the Threads That Connect Our Lives

The College Shrink by William Haylon

 

There is a defining moment near the end of William Haylon’s brilliant The College Shrink, an emotional moment when two key characters are in the middle of a gripping conversation. They are standing two feet apart, and Haylon writes, “He didn’t take the two steps required to hug her. To console her. That’s how far apart they were at the moment. Two little steps that he should have taken … It was a reminder of who they were. In retrospect, it might have made all the difference.”

The College Shrink in great part is about whether an entourage of amusing, heartwarming, intelligent and sensitive characters — most of them patients of university therapist Dr. Emily Metcalf — will take those figurative two steps, journey over the threshold of stain-filled lives, conquer their personal demons and emerge as whole and happy individuals. Many of the players are freshmen at the elite Eastern college where Emily works and spent her undergraduate years. They are at that uncomfortable age of being unsure of themselves, burdened by parents’ expectations, learning who they are, experimenting and hopefully coming out the other end with dignity, degrees and direction.

The College Shrink is about a strict rules follower who breaks the rules with good intentions, a psychologist who shares private information about one client with another, sets up multiple clients to live in the home of another client, drinks with underage clients, sometimes talks more about her own issues than about those of her clients.

But don’t get me wrong — Emily is a very good person and the heartbeat of this story. As every character strays or struggles, it is Emily who brings them back, even as her own life threatens to self-destruct.

And what a cast of clients:

• Jelly, a loud, bold, bodacious girl who speaks and dresses to shock, seemingly confident and cocky on the outside, helping and caring for the others, but hiding something.
• Mana, a sweet boy from Nepal, filled with guilt for leaving his family but grateful for the opportunity. When tragedy strikes, it becomes the story’s focal point.
• Seth, a massive football player, a potential pro, who is in love with Jelly, not sure he wants to play football and knows something about what happened to Mana.
• Elizabeth, a high school girl who had an affair with Emily’s then-husband (you got that right).
• Marionette (a temporary name change), determined to become the class valedictorian at all costs.
• Henry, an 82-year-old retired professor who can only think about how everybody he knows is going to die. Winds up finding meaning in opening his house as “Hotel Henry” to some of Emily’s clients in need.

Throw in Monk, an on-again/off-again professor, an on-again/off-again lover of Emily, a magnificent psychiatrist with one tragic flaw.

A STUNNINGLY REALISTIC PORTRAYAL OF MENTAL HEALTH

Studies show that about one-third of all first-year college students report mental health issues, so campus counseling centers with professional staff are not only nothing new but growing in relevance. And in case you were wondering as I was, whether author William Haylon has a background as a professional therapist that helped create Emily and her role, nowhere in his biography is that indicated. Was he so spot-on hitting his marks because of his own time in therapy on the client side? Who knows, and who cares — it’s none of our business.

In The College Shrink, William Haylon has written a wise, poignant, often amusing but too often real and heart-wrenching tale with troubled, sensitive and wonderful characters, glorious insights, a purposeful and easy writing style and everything a reader like myself could hope for.

I always used to marvel at how Charles Dickens introduced us to about 120 characters in each of his books, but each one had a clear purpose and was hardly excess baggage. Haylon, naturally with far fewer characters, does a surgeon’s job of dissecting every character connection and making sure that each one — whether star or supporting cast — is germane to the plot.

Haylon could have ended the book several times near the finish, but he keeps giving us more, like a musician coming back for encore after encore. While this could have been excessive, I was happy that it kept going.

Thanks, William, for not stopping. My advice to readers: “Take the two steps” and grab this book. It might make all the difference.

 

About William Haylon:

William Haylon is a married father of four living with my wife on the beautiful Southcoast of Massachusetts. A graduate of Williams College and Harvard Business School, he spent a number of years launching start-up businesses before turning his creative efforts to writing novels. Both efforts, it turns out, began with a blank piece of paper. He haswritten four novels: I’m Will (2012), The Missing Something Club (2014), The College Shrink (2022) and Complicated Families (2022).

In addition to raising a family, a big part of his life has been helping to launch (nineteen years and counting) The Nativity School of Worcester, an independent, all-scholarship school for underprivileged kids of all ethnicities and faiths. A magical place where students can realize their many capabilities and build a path to a more productive life. Any proceeds from his book sales are donated to the school.