Individual Counseling and Psychotherapy
To begin individual counseling at the UCS, the first step is to schedule a meeting with a UCS staff member for an initial consultation appointment. The purpose of this appointment is to provide an opportunity for you to discuss your concerns with a UCS staff member and to arrive at a mutually agreeable course of action to address your concerns. You can schedule a consultation appointment by calling (319) 335-7294. Once you have an appointment scheduled, please plan to arrive at least 30 minutes early to complete paperwork on our in-house computer terminals. The actual consultation appointment typically lasts 45 to 50 minutes.
Based on this meeting, you and your consultant may agree that ongoing individual counseling would best suit your needs. If this is the case, the consultant will gather the necessary information from you so that you can be assigned to meet with a staff counselor on an ongoing basis.
At certain times during the semester, the UCS goes on “wait-list” status, which means there is likely to be a delay in your assignment for ongoing counseling due to most or all of the counseling slots being full. We do all we can to make your wait for assignment as short as possible. While waiting to be assigned to a counselor, you may walk in any weekday at 8:00 a.m. to meet with the consultant on duty. No advance registration or scheduling is necessary for this service.
Our services are short-term in nature. Practically, this means that you and your assigned counselor will focus on resolving the immediate problems that brought you to our counseling service. Most students receive between three and eight sessions of counseling.
If you would like more information about what to expect from counseling and the counseling service, visit our Brochures page to view our "Counseling and You" brochure.