{"id":16248,"date":"2017-01-26T17:24:17","date_gmt":"2017-01-26T22:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/?p=16248"},"modified":"2019-03-04T15:07:18","modified_gmt":"2019-03-04T20:07:18","slug":"college-counseling-centers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/college-counseling-centers\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Visiting Your College Counseling Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good mental health is vital for a successful college experience. Trying to balance school, work, relationships or other personal issues could easily cause a student stress. In a <\/span>2008 joint survey<\/span><\/a> by the Associated Press and mtvU, as many as 80 percent of college students reported feeling stressed on a daily basis and 34 percent said they felt depressed<\/a>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the high number of students who experience stress or depression, not many seek help from their school\u2019s respective counseling centers. College counseling centers can offer a variety of services for students\u2019 mental health needs, often free of charge.<\/span> Penn State\u2019s Center for Collegiate Mental Health<\/a><\/strong>, CCMH, annual reports offer an insight on what some students are seeking help for the most.<\/span><\/p>\n

CCMH is the nation\u2019s largest database on college student mental health. Each year CCMH puts out annual reports based on data collected from their coalition of more than 400 counseling centers at colleges and universities internationally, meaning report results only apply to students who use their school\u2019s counseling.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 2016 report<\/span><\/a> found that the most common concerns for students seeking counseling were anxiety<\/strong> and depression<\/strong>. They are also the main areas of student distress that are showing gradual growth. The report also found the rate of \u201cthreat to self\u201d characteristics, defined as \u201cnonsuicidal injury and serious suicidal ideation,\u201d increased for the sixth year in a row. <\/span><\/p>\n

The report stated that \u201ca minority of students utilize a majority of services\u201d and the most common number of appointments per student was one. Few students are seeking help from their school\u2019s counseling centers and many that do, abruptly end their treatment before they have a chance for improvement.<\/strong> Only 26 percent of students completed their treatment goal. <\/span><\/p>\n

Seeking Help<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

Ashley Stauffer<\/a> is the project manager of CCMH and also works with clients on a part-time basis at Penn State\u2019s Counseling and Psychological Services. Stauffer talks about the importance of school counseling centers and suggest students who are in search of help not to be discouraged and to reach out to their school\u2019s counseling center. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI suggest students to give a call to get an idea of what it is like and schedule just one appointment,\u201d says Stauffer. \u201cI have a lot of clients who see me one time and say \u2018I was only going to attend the one session and this is actually helpful and much different than I thought it\u2019ll be.\u2019\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Students should put aside any assumptions of what they think counseling will be like. The only way to find out is to experience counseling services first hand.<\/span> Stauffer knows all too well what<\/span> presumptions students have going into counseling services that they\u2019ve had proven untrue.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey typically think that you\u2019re lying on the couch, not looking at the therapist while [the student] just talks,\u201d says Stauffer. <\/span><\/p>\n

School counseling centers follow the same standards and regulations as those off campus. They provide the same confidential and judgement-free counseling. Counseling services vary from school to school but many offer individual counseling, group counseling and can offer referrals for help outside of school. Depending on the center\u2019s policies, students can make an appointment or walk in to receive counseling. <\/span><\/p>\n

According to the 2016 CCMH report, the number of students seeking help increased 30 percent since last year. Counseling centers are considerably becoming an essential part of any college campus.<\/span> Students should take advantage of every resource available to them while in school that could help them achieve the best college experience. <\/strong><\/p>\n

“During college, a student’s number one job is to succeed academically and graduate from their institution,\u201d says Stauffer. \u201cWhen students are navigating stressors such as adjusting to college, breakups, homesickness or more serious mental health concerns, like anxiety and depression, that makes ‘showing-up for work’ more difficult. Counseling centers are there to help students obtain their goal of graduating on-time, despite all of the ups and downs.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Experiencing anxiety can be new for students. Anxiety disorder is a common mental health problem for college students and many people experience their first episode of anxiety by the age of 22 according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. So even though a student has never had pre-existing mental health concerns, it doesn\u2019t mean it should be ignored and seeking counseling is one way to guarantee good mental health.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another important thing students should keep in mind is that they should not allow their<\/span> own perception of their issue\u2019s severity to prevent them from seeking help. Counseling centers are there to help with any and all problems a student is dealing with that is interfering with school performance. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIssues are contextual, context is different for everyone,\u201d<\/strong> says Stauffer. \u201cEveryone has \u2018stuff,\u2019 no matter who you are or where you come from. Students shouldn\u2019t minimize their struggles and seek help so they can continue doing well in school.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

More information regarding school counseling centers can usually be found under student health services or student resources on a school\u2019s website<\/span>. Setting up a consultation can be as easy as picking up a phone or sending an e-mail. Using the services provided to them by their school can open a path for students to begin their mental health treatment at a time when they need to the most and help them begin to open up.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey always have time available to help with whatever concerns,\u201d says Stauffer. “<\/span>Just talking about what\u2019s on their mind, even on a short term basis, can help a student.”<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good mental health is vital for a successful college experience. Trying to balance school, work, relationships or other personal issues could easily cause a student stress. In a 2008 joint survey by the Associated Press and mtvU, as many as 80 percent of college students reported feeling stressed on a daily basis and 34 percent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":16300,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,586],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-life","category-school-hacks"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Counseling-Centers-1.png",830,533,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Counseling-Centers-1-224x144.png",224,144,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Counseling-Centers-1-300x193.png",300,193,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Counseling-Centers-1.png",830,533,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Counseling-Centers-1.png",830,533,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Counseling-Centers-1.png",830,533,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Counseling-Centers-1.png",830,533,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Adilene Rodriguez","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/author\/adilene-rodriguez\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Good mental health is vital for a successful college experience. Trying to balance school, work, relationships or other personal issues could easily cause a student stress. In a 2008 joint survey by the Associated Press and mtvU, as many as 80 percent of college students reported feeling stressed on a daily basis and 34 percent…","featured_media_src_url":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Counseling-Centers-1.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}