What to Expect in Counseling

Counseling Process | Responsibilities

The Counseling Process

Counseling can help you learn to make better decisions. It can help you define your problems and learn techniques to either overcome them or cope with them. Counseling can assist you with developing greater confidence in your academic performance, define career directions and acquire a keener awareness and appreciation of your needs and those of other people. With counseling, you can improve your communication skills, establish more meaningful relationships, or cope more effectively with feelings of depression or anxiety. Any personal, academic, or career concern may be explored in counseling.

During counseling, you will be helped to clarify feelings, thoughts and needs. You and your counselor will work together to define realistic goals and explore available options. As you discover ways to make changes, you will be better able to direct your choices. Counseling is an active process, both during sessions and outside of counseling, as you implement new skills and insights. Depending upon the intensity of concerns and level of involvement in making needed changes, students are often able to resolve difficulties in four to eight counseling sessions.

Our Shared Responsibilities

Your personal commitment to helping yourself is crucial to an effective counseling process. Counselors can help you only if you are willing to receive help, attend scheduled sessions, and engage in new ways of thinking and acting outside of the counseling setting.

If you will be delayed in coming at your scheduled time, or if you must cancel your appointment, please notify our secretary, Deborah McLarnan, at ext. 4610, preferably 24 hours before your appointment. If you wish to terminate, please call or come in immediately to inform your counselor. If you have been scheduled for multiple sessions and miss a session without calling to inform us, your future appointment times may be given to another student.

Your counselor will make every attempt to be prompt for your appointment. However, there may be occasions when, due to an emergency, the counselor must delay or cancel your appointment. We regret the inconvenience this might cause you and, with your permission, will attempt to inform you of this change by email or telephone.