When Sam Cochran started working at University Counseling
Service two decades ago, the office saw between 900
and 1,000 students a year for counseling related
to mental health and academic issues.
Since that time, the number has more than doubled.
It’s not necessarily that students face more
problems and challenges these days, says Cochran,
counseling service director. Instead, the stigma
about seeking assistance is diminishing, and there
are more effective treatments available, including
psychotherapy and psychiatric medications.
Satisfied customers
The
following are some responses from University
Counseling Service’s recent client satisfaction
survey to the question, “How have our
services helped you with your academic/personal
success?”
• I
am a much happier person all around.
• They have had a tremendous impact
on my life…by giving me the support and
tools to achieve my goals.
• I have taken steps to help myself
that I wouldn’t have taken without my
counselor’s support.
• I
have begun to like myself better.
• The
support has been the critical factor in my
continuing with my studies.
• I love coming to my counseling sessions…we
make a lot of progress each time and this helps
me feel more relaxed and self-confident.
• It’s nice having someone to
talk to that isn’t emotionally attached
to me.
• It
took stress away from my life and made it
easier to focus.
• The skills I’m
learning here will serve me throughout my
life and career. |
Whatever the reasons, Cochran and his team—11
senior staff psychologists, three psychology interns,
four adjunct staff counselors, and a host of graduate
students and support staff members—are helping
more students than ever.
“Our mission is to assist students to develop
their potential and to remove any psychological barriers
between them and their success,” Cochran says.
Counselors meet one-on-one with students in the
counseling service office at 3223 Westlawn to discuss
everything from homesickness to depression, slipping
grades to eating disorders. Usually students can
get in to see someone within a day of calling the
office, Cochran says—an effort by staff to
provide accessible, speedy, responsive, quality assessments.
Of the 2,300 initial consultations last year, about
a third continued in one-on-one counseling for an
average of five sessions. All services are available
to currently enrolled students. Nonstudents are eligible
for a one-session consultation and possible referral.
Except for selected tests, services are provided
free of charge.
Counselors also offer group and couples counseling
and psychotherapy, career assessment and testing,
and psychoeducational evaluation—testing for
learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder.
The students in therapy aren’t the only ones
positively affected by the counseling service. Improving
students’ mental and academic functioning benefits
the campus community as a whole, notes Paula Keeton,
senior staff psychologist.
“We offer a safe place to be honest about
what’s going on in students’ lives and
help make positive changes,” she says. “It
seeps into the rest of the community as positive
energy.”
Another aspect of counseling service duties involves
outreach. Counselors hold many educational programs
for the campus community, addressing such topics
as sexual assault prevention, learning disabilities,
depression and anxiety, and exam preparation.
Also, as many as 10 graduate students studying to
be psychologists work at the counseling service under
the guidance of senior and adjunct staff. The graduate
students use the service as a crucial training ground,
and senior staff members learn from them as well.
“We’re a strong training site, and I
think that adds to our wealth as a counseling center,
and it adds to the campus in general,” says
Kathleen Staley, assistant director for program and
consultation services.
The counseling service’s internship program
recently was reaccredited for seven years by the
American Psychological Association—a distinctive
accomplishment for those in the business of training
psychologists.
Sometimes the best learning experiences, though,
come from working with the student clients who come
in for counseling, Staley says.
She considers it a “real privilege” to
be invited to share in personal aspects of a person’s
life. Some people think that working in counseling
must be depressing, she says, but she sees it in
a much more uplifting way.
“I see the growth and positive results that
come out of it,” Staley says. “I think
sometimes students might be surprised if they knew
how much they impact me. I’ve learned about
life from them, and my life has been enriched by
them. It feels like a gift they give me.”
Cochran considers one of the counseling service’s
most important duties to be fielding calls from faculty
and staff members who are concerned that students
they work with may be suffering from academic or
emotional problems and want to know how to help.
“I tell professors and other people who work
with students that if they have any concerns at all,
if they feel something isn’t quite right and
the alarm bells are going off, to give us a call,” he
says. “We can help them evaluate the situation
and develop a game plan for how they’ll proceed.
“And we’ll help with any concerns about
any student, whether it’s mental health-related
or not. If we’re not the place they need to
be, we can help them find someone who can meet their
needs. We’re a good starting point.”
For more information on University Counseling Service,
go to www.uiowa.edu/~ucs or call (33)5-7294.
by Amy Schoon
|
