Counseling and Behavioral Health Services

We provide student-centered and culturally informed counseling from a short term, integrative approach, treating all students with respect and recognition of their unique strengths. We provide emergency response and crisis intervention as needed. We support faculty in the identification of students who may benefit from our services and by reaching out to students in need. We provide education to the campus community and work toward prevention and wellness in our service model. We are a liaison to the local community, linking students to longer term or specialized services when needed.

Counseling provides students with a safe, confidential, and nonjudgmental space to voice concerns and address these concerns. It is a collaborative process that involves the development of a unique, supportive relationship focused on helping students discover their strengths, cope with challenges, adjust and grow. Counselors offer useful feedback, they listen, reflect, and validate students’ emotions. Counselors work to help students develop effective strategies to get their needs met. Most students learn that counseling offers tremendous benefits in helping them work through problems that are affecting their lives.

• Screening: A student’s first scheduled appointment at CBHS is a 20 to 30 minute Screening appointment. During the Screening appointment a counselor reviews the student’s answers to a questionnaire about problems common among college students as well as the students understanding of what they would like to be different and changes they would like to make. During this appointment the student and counselor decide on a pathway forward which may include any of the remaining services on the CBHS menu.
• Individual Counseling: Limited frequency individual counseling, usually every other week.
• Group Counseling: In weekly group counseling, the counselor acts as a facilitator, helping students better understand themselves, their feelings and behaviors, and their relationships with others while benefitting from the experience and support of peers also working on these concerns.
• Referral Appointment: Students who wish to pursue individual counseling beyond our limited frequency model or whose needs fall outside of the CBHS Scope of Practice can receive assistance in connecting with private providers or agencies off campus. Students may choose to continue in group counseling at CBHS even if they see an individual counselor off campus. Students may also be referred to another on-campus resource that can help the student get their needs met.
• Counseling and Psychiatry: CBHS counseling clients may be referred by their CBHS counselor to our part-time psychiatrist if the student’s needs can be managed through our limited psychiatric practice. If a student’s needs psychiatry services outside of our scope of practice CBHS will work with the student to find a provider who can mee the student’s needs.
• Crisis Response: Students experiencing a psychological or emotional crisis can drop-in to the Counseling Center during regular business hours or speak to the Counselor On Call after hours and on weekends

Below is a list which includes many, but not all of the reasons students come to counseling:

• Improving relationships with friends and family
• Managing distress more effectively
• Exploring issues related to one’s Identity, gender, or sexuality
• Improving academic performance and creativity
• Understanding yourself and your interpersonal style
• Coping with the loss of a loved one
• Managing loneliness or homesickness and adjusting to changes, lifestyle, or culture
• Addressing eating/body image concerns
• Recovering from assault, relationship violence or abuse
• Managing experiences of discrimination or microaggression
• Dealing with depression or mood disorders
• Reducing anxiety, panic, or performance anxiety
• Helping a friend
• Addressing difficulty with living situations or campus conflicts
• Making decisions about a leave of absence, transferring or withdrawing from college