Personal counseling offers you an opportunity to explore, organize, and process your issues. We use a short-term, therapeutic, solution-focused model; this generally means 4-8 sessions.
When appropriate, you may be referred to services offered within WCC to assist you in
addressing issues common in a college setting, including:
- Personal issues such as anxiety, depression, loneliness, guilt, low self-esteem, grief, stress, and adjustment
- Academic concerns such as performance anxiety, low motivation, self-management, and underachievement
- Career counseling such as goal setting, information gathering, and decision making
- Crisis intervention
What to expect
In your initial consultation, we will discuss your options for future services. Your counseling sessions are generally scheduled once per week and will last between 45 and 50 minutes, depending upon the presenting concern.
Appointments are requested; however, you may be seen on a walk-in basis for triage if a counselor is available. There are periods each semester when the demand for scheduled appointments exceeds our resources. During those times and depending on circumstances, you may be referred to off-campus resources. Students diagnosed with long-term psychiatric conditions will receive support with academic-related issues, crisis intervention, and referrals to mental health providers. If you desire more intense or longer-term services, we will provide a referral.
Limitations
You must be a WCC student enrolled in the current semester to use our counseling services.
You may benefit from services that extend beyond the short-term model or from services not offered at WCC. In these cases, we provide referral services either after initial triage or as these factors become more apparent during the course of services. Some of the issues that are commonly addressed through referral to services outside of WCC include:
- A need for intensive treatment that will likely exceed the 8 counseling sessions limit as indicated by:
- Need, or request, to be seen more than once a week
- Desire for uninterrupted, long-term counseling/therapy
- Prior history of hospitalizations
- Prior history of long-term psychiatric treatment
- Chronic suicidality and/or self-injury behaviors or potential to be harmful to others
- Indication that short-term therapy may be detrimental or non-beneficial
- High likelihood that the student may develop a need for long-term treatment
- History of long-standing maladaptive interpersonal patterns that create difficulty in relationships
- Students whose needs fall outside the clinical scope of our staff
- Students who need specialized services not available through WCC, as indicated by, but not limited to:
- Presence of significant drug and/or alcohol problems, for example, substance dependence, primary substance abuse, and/or past failed treatments
- Presence of significant eating disorders
- Request for psychological testing
- Need, or request, for treatment modality not provided by WCC staff
Long-term counseling services
Counseling services provided by counselors are not all inclusive and are not intended to be
utilized for long-term use, psychotherapy, treatment for severe psychological disorders, or court-mandated treatment. Counselors do not diagnose or treat specific mental disorders. We may make referrals to an outside agency for certain specialized areas such as substance abuse issues, personality disorders, and/or severe depression.
Mandated counseling
WCC does not provide counseling services or treatment if you are mandated to see a counselor by the legal system or an attorney due to legal difficulties.
Personal motivation for counseling/lack of progress on counseling goals
To receive counseling services, you must exhibit personal motivation. We may refer you to other
resources if you are not achieving progress on your established counseling goals.
Assessments for employment, volunteer, or related purposes
We do not conduct assessments or make recommendations/predictions regarding your suitability for employment in various work settings (e.g. Peace Corps, federal government, security clearances for the FBI or CIA, military, etc.), volunteer placements, etc.
Substance abuse
If you have substance abuse concerns, counselors are available to:
- Meet with you for up to 3 sessions to provide support
- Conduct a safety assessment if necessary
- Determine if your counseling needs can be adequately addressed by receiving counseling services at WCC; and/or
- Refer you to other resources.
Privacy, confidentiality and records
Information you share is kept in strict confidence. Legal constraints and ethical guidelines require that all client interactions are confidential. No record of counseling is contained in any academic, education, or job placement file. We make every reasonable effort to ensure the security of written and electronic records. All counseling personnel have been trained in policies and procedures to protect the security of records and sensitive information.
WCC counseling professionals operate as a team and as part of the WCC care team; we may consult with each other in order to provide the best services to students. There are a few exceptions to confidentiality:
- If you are a danger to yourself or someone else
- If you tell us about current child abuse or neglect
- If a court of law orders us to release information; or
- If you give us written permission to share information