Counseling Center

What is Counseling?

What is Counseling?

At times, everyone feels stressed-out, depressed, angry, anxious, or confused. Sometimes these problems gradually go away on their own or they get better with the support of our friends and family. However, there are times when these problems do not go away or they become too overwhelming. These are the times when one should seek out professional help.

In general, counseling is a process of self-discovery and growth where a trained professional helps someone deal with problems related to personal, social, academic, and/or career concerns. Most people at one time or another can benefit from counseling.

In the counseling session, clients collaborate with their counselor to define problems they wish to address and to work toward solutions to these problems. Counseling is a process that requires the active involvement of both you and your counselor. The counselor’s job is to listen without judgment, help guide the client to a deeper understanding of emotional patterns, and generate ideas or viewpoints that will lead the client toward greater mental/emotional health. The client’s job is to do their best to engage in the process with an open mind and some willingness to make changes. When the counselor and client work together in this way, positive changes often result.

Some common reasons to seek counseling are:

v Relationship difficulties
v Depression, Anxiety, Stress
v So anxious, afraid, or depressed that everyday activities and relationships with others have been affected
v Homesickness
v Dealing with change
v Fear of failure
v Having difficulty concentrating while studying
v Procrastination
v Career uncertainty
v Coping with feelings such as loss, loneliness, sadness, anger or guilt.
v Drug or alcohol problems OR drinking too much or taking drugs
v Eating or sleeping differently
v Feeling helpless or hopeless
v Having dramatic mood swings
v Questions about “coming out” or identity issues
v Physically, sexually or emotionally abused
v Low self-esteem
v Performing poorly in school
v Experiencing a crisis or stressful event: like a death in the family, divorce, break up of a relationship, miscarriage
v Struggling to become independent from parents.
v Thinking about suicide
v When thinking about harming self or others
v Having reactions to an event that are in excess of what might be expectable

The potential benefits of counseling:

v Have someone listen to your concerns with care, confidentiality, and respect
v Understand how unhelpful patterns and cycles are negatively affecting your life
v Learn new ways to deal with your concerns
v Gain greater control over your emotions
v Identify your abilities, hopes, and goals and learn more about how to act on these
v Improve your relationships with others
v Have a safe place to “vent”
v Increase your self-esteem
v Improve your performance at school
v Achieve more satisfaction in life

Who will know?

Because counseling focuses on emotional health, clients sometimes share personal thoughts/emotions with their counselors. Counselors know that it is important for clients to feel that whatever they share will be protected. The counselors in the Counseling Center follow the legal/ethical guidelines for confidentiality carefully. Whatever a student shares with the counselor will not be shared with anyone, including faculty, staff, students, parents or persons outside of the student counseling services. Exceptions to this policy may be made in emergencies (please see section on "Confidentiality").

How do I make an appointment?

You can make an appointment with a counselor, by calling 651-690-6805 or by coming to the Counseling Center located in Derham Hall Room 214 during the office hours.

Counseling Helps Students Stay in School

“Students who received 1-12 sessions of counseling had a 14% higher retention rate than those who wanted but not receive counseling.”

Wilson, S.B., Mason, T.W., & Ewing, M.J.M (1997). Evaluating the impact of receiving University-based counseling services on student retention. The Journal of Counseling Psychology , 44(3), 316-320.

“Counseled students [at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale] enjoyed a 25% graduation/retention advantage over students who did not receive counseling. Specifically, students who received 1-7 sessions of personal-emotional counseling had a 19% retention advantage over non-counseled students. Students who received 8-12 sessions of personal-emotional counseling had a 31% retention advantage over non-counseled students.”

(Summarized findings from Tylka,Tracy, (2001), Evaluating the Influence of Personal emotional Counseling on Student Retention and Graduation Status. Unpublished manuscript, SIUC.)

A library of books and audiotapes is available in the center for students to borrow.

Counseling Center Resource Library