What to Expect

Intake Appointment

Your initial visit to Counseling Services will be 30 minutes long.  Before this appointment, you will be asked to read through and sign Counseling Services' informed consent form  in order to ensure that you are well aware of our policies regarding confidentiality and communication.  You will also be asked to fill out a very brief intake form to help guide both you and your counselor in matching you with appropriate services.  Both the informed consent and intake form are available within the forms section of this website if you would like to take time to read through and complete them before coming in to Counseling Services.  Otherwise, you will be asked to do so at Counseling Services when you arrive.

During your first visit, you will spend time with a counselor discussing your immediate concerns. This will help both you and your counselor to decide how the Counseling Service can best serve you. Services that may be offered include individual counseling, group counseling, psychoeducational classes, and/or an appointment with a consulting psychiatrist at the Counseling Service.  Your counselor may also discuss additional resources both on and off campus that may be of support to you. These include student led organizations, wellness classes, college organized programs, and both on-line and community based resources.  In some circumstances, you may be referred to an off-campus provider for longer term, intensive therapy or some other mental health expertise not offered at the Counseling Service. 

During your initial visit, you will also have time to:

  • Share your schedule to identify possible appointment times for continued treatment
  • Ask any questions you might have regarding confidentiality or counseling in general
  • Make known any therapist preferences 

Additional Appointments

If it is mutually decided that additional individual sessions at the Counseling Service are needed, you will be assigned to one of the staff counselors for this purpose.  This counselor may or may not be the same person you saw during your initial appointment.  Counseling sessions are scheduled for a maximum of 50 minutes.  You have the right to request to change to a different counselor if you desire. During an early visit with your counselor, you will decide the goals of your work and the approximate length of the counseling contract.  Because of the large number of students requesting counseling, the Counseling Service generally provides short-term therapy.

Waitlist

Every effort is made to match students interested in individual counseling with a counselor as soon as possible following their initial appointment.  However, given the demand for services, a waitlist may be generated.  Students are put on a waitlist if and when Counseling Service staff have no current availability and if there are no available services within the community to which the student wants to be referred.  The waitlist is reviewed by staff as space becomes available and students are kept informed regarding service availability by the counselor with whom they had their initial appointment.  

If a student's concerns worsen while he/she is on the waitlist, the student should contact either the counselor with whom they had their initial appointment or Counseling Services' Administrative Coordinator, Lindsay Moore, at 725-3145 to schedule an emergency appointment.