Eligibility for Services
With a mission of assisting students in their educational pursuits and based in theories of student development and learning, the Center offers a free consultation to current enrolled. Based on this consultation, students receive recommendations about appropriate services available either at our Center and/or a referral elsewhere on campus or in the community. In light of the demand for services, the professional staff will make every effort to identify the best treatment options for each student's psychological concerns. Should it become apparent that a student has additional concerns beyond the resources of Counseling Services (e.g., study skill deficits, academic advising needs, economic assistance needs), other campus and community resources may be recommended.
The Counseling Services Center functions within a short-term counseling framework and responds to increasing student demands for services, session limitations have been established to provide equity in the access of counseling services for students. The number of sessions offered depends on the clinician's recommendation for likelihood of most effective treatment within these limits.
Who may use our services?
Students are eligible for services while they are enrolled in the semester they want to receive counseling services. Students who withdraw from the university lose their eligibility for services for the remainder of the semester. Students are eligible for services throughout the summer as long as they are enrolled at least part-time. Emergency services may be limited when multiple emergencies by the same student indicate that regular counseling sessions are not sufficient, emergency services are used inappropriately, or the student’s mental health needs are beyond the guidelines or resources of the Center staff. The student tend will be referred to community resources that can provide more frequent or intensive services.
Consultation and On-going Counseling Services
After the initial consultation, the recommendation for use of services (as well as other campus & community resources) will be made in light of the client's presenting problem, counselor's conceptualization, our staff's clinical experience and knowledge of current treatment literature, and how we believe our Center and other outside resources can best help. In some cases, no Center services may be recommended and an outside referral will be provided.
Appropriate recommendations for our Center would include:
- issues or problems that have been shown to respond well to short-term treatment (e.g., grief, adjustment to college, anxiety, stress, certain relationship issues);
- various crises (e.g. interpersonal conflict, loss, assault, trauma);
- developmental issues (e.g., assertiveness, intimacy, identity exploration);
- pathology for which we can offer treatment that will likely reduce or better manage symptoms (e.g., depression, substance abuse).
Appropriate recommendations for services in coordination with and/or outside our Center (thus, possibly not offering any services other than assessment and referral) would include:
- mental health needs that require longer-term or more intensive treatment (e.g., substance dependence, certain traumas, chronic interpersonal conflict);
- severity of problem or level of functioning that is beyond what our Center can likely handle within that academic year (e.g., life threatening behaviors involved in eating disorders, frequent suicidal and violent behaviors, acting out behaviors that disturb others, increased potential for psychiatric hospitalizations, breaks in counseling due to university schedule appears to compromise mental health treatment);
- issues or problems for which our staff lacks experience or training (e.g., conduct disorders, specific phobias, sexual dysfunction, neurological impairment, eating disorders);
- evaluations needed for legal or other purposes (e.g., documentation for support of disability services (e.g., ADHD, psychological disabilities), forensic evaluation, child custody evaluation);
- court ordered treatment;
- situations in which the Center staff would be in conflicting or dual roles by providing treatment.
Examples of indications that our Center may need to refer out (and not offer further services) might be evident in...
- the issue of the referral bringing the client to us (e.g., academic advising, job search skills, academic counseling, court orders or impending court case);
- the client having a history of long-term therapy or psychiatric hospitalizations;
- the inappropriate use of emergency services or and/or a high frequency of contacts regarding a particular student’s problems/acting out behaviors;
- the amount of time spent per week and/or number of professional staff involved in responding to the client’s concerns (e.g., other professional staff frequently involved in emergency care and/or case management of client, client likely to need 24-hour monitoring, or client likely to need therapeutic contact more than once per week);
- client does not appear motivated to change, or, if motivated, unwilling to pursue counselor’s professional recommendations for treatment;
- client and therapist are unable to arrive at mutual therapeutic expectations; and/or
- multiple diagnoses or severe problems that require more comprehensive response and continued follow-up than our center is able to provide.