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The
Counseling Process
Your Appointments
You may wonder about your first
counselor appointment. In the first one
or two sessions, your counselor will review with you the
problems that have brought you to the Counseling Center and
how your life as a whole is going.
The counselor then
recommends the type of counseling that seems most appropriate
for your needs. Usually, this involves individual or group
counseling at the Counseling Center. We provide
short term counseling, and
under special circumstances, will provide service for a
longer period of time. In some instances, the counselor may
recommend referral to off campus mental health professionals
who are more uniquely suited to assist you with your
particular issue.
If you continue at the Counseling Center in
individual counseling, we plan meetings
with your counselor for a regular weekly or every other week
appointment of 50 minutes. There are situations where a
session may last a bit longer or a bit shorter than this
general time frame. You will be asked to wait for the
counselor in the waiting area and will be greeted there to
start your appointment. During the sessions, you and your
counselor will develop some counseling goals and discuss
various strategies for achieving these goals.
Tips for Success
Counseling can be a very
productive experience for one who invests in
the process. You can expect your counselor to be a
concerned, knowledgeable professional who can be an
effective listener, a “sounding board”, and an ally and
resource for you in your problem solving efforts. Counseling
is a collaborative effort that can enable you to recognize
and understand yourself better. It can also result in you
changing your thoughts, feelings and behavior, your
relationship with others, or other aspects of your life
situation,
depending on the goals you and your counselor develop for
the process.
Your responsibility as a person seeking
service is to talk openly and honestly about your
difficulties, to be receptive to feedback and to be willing
to take the risks often involved in change. It is important
to work hard on your goals not only in sessions, but between
them. Sometimes your counselor will ask you to reflect on
issues or work on certain tasks between sessions. If you
work hard in counseling and stick with it, you have a good
chance of achieving the changes you seek. Although your
counselor cannot guarantee change, it makes sense to give
this process a try.
If counseling is
to be beneficial to you, it is important that you attend
your individual appointments. If for some reason you are
unable to make your appointment, please call in advance to
cancel and to reschedule. You do not have a “standing”
appointment and need to reschedule in order to see your
counselor. Occasionally, your counselor may need to
reschedule an appointment with you due to an emergency or
illness. In that event, we will try to contact you as soon as
possible and arrange another time for you and your counselor
to meet.
Termination of Counseling
The best time to end counseling is when you
and your counselor mutually agree that you have reached your
goals and that the problems for which you sought counseling
are well on their way to resolution. If you have concerns
about how counseling is working for you, please discuss them
with your counselor rather than simply not returning. The
chances are good that you and your counselor can work out
your concerns or dissatisfactions with the counseling
process.
If your counselor has concerns about the counseling
process, she/he will likewise discuss them with you and will
recommend any changes that are appropriate. In some
instances, this may include termination of counseling at the
Counseling Center and referral to more appropriate mental
health services off-campus. Our goal is to assist you in
securing the services you need, either at the Counseling
Center or elsewhere.
Crisis Situations
Problems for which students seek counseling
sometimes produce considerable stress and intense painful
feelings. If you should feel at some point that you need
assistance before your next scheduled appointment, you may
take one of the following steps:
- On weekdays, you may try
contacting your counselor at the Counseling Center (563/333-6423). The Counseling Center is open Monday,
Thursday and Friday from 8:00a.m.-4:30p.m.; Wednesday
8:00a.m. to 9:00p.m. and
Tuesday from 8:00a.m.-8:00p.m. If your counselor
is out of the office, another counselor may be able to
speak with you.
-
Nights/Weekends The Counseling Center does not maintain
24-hour crisis
intervention services and does not have counseling
“on-call” after hours. You may contact your Hall Director
or other Residence Life staff for assistance. They are
prepared to make immediate referrals if necessary and will
on occasion, contact Counseling Center staff after hours.
During breaks when the Counseling Center is closed, you
may contact Residence Hall staff on duty or go to Genesis
West hospital.
-
A 24-hour crisis line is
available to you and may be accessed by dialing
563-421-2975.
See
Client rights
for more information
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