A university counseling center (UCC) provides
mental health
Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. It likewise determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making. Mental hea ...
and other services within a
university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
or college environment. The need for these services is on the rise. Counseling center directors and other student affairs personnel have reported an increase in the mental health needs of college students, with issues like
eating disorders,
alcohol and drug abuse/dependence, severe
depression/
anxiety
Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat wh ...
,
suicidality
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and subs ...
, and
sexual assault becoming more prevalent in this environment. Among
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
universities, directors report a 42% increase in the number of students seen at their counseling centers. In a summary of recent survey data, Duenwald also reports that the use of
psychiatric medication
A psychiatric or psychotropic medication is a psychoactive drug taken to exert an effect on the chemical makeup of the brain and nervous system. Thus, these medications are used to treat mental illnesses. These medications are typically made of ...
has increased almost 10% among college students since the year 2000.
May (2003) finds that a UCC will typically work with 15-20% of students at colleges and 8-12% at a university.
[May, R. (2003). How much is enough?: Reflections on the Report of the Harvard provost's committee on student mental health services. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 17, 3-10.] Given these numbers, May recommends 1 counselor per 600 students in colleges and a 1:1000 ratio in universities with an average of 5 to 6 sessions per student.
UCCs generally offer a variety of services including individual and group
counseling, psychodiagnostic testing, alcohol and other drug counseling/evaluation, crisis assistance, campus outreach programs, consultation services, and graduate student training. Though services primarily target mental health problems (i.e., anxiety, depression), students also utilize counseling services to enhance areas of their life, including relationships, career/vocational choices, academic and athletic performance, and exploring psychological strengths.
Lehigh University
Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epi ...
Counseling and Psychological Services (UCPS) is an example of a university counseling center.
Another example of a university counseling center is the
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...
Counseling Center. In addition to the services mentioned above, the center also offers Peer Programs. Peer Programs offered by the UCI Counseling Center include C.O.A.C.H, The Peer Educator Program, and the LGBTQ Mentorship Program. In these programs, students receive services not from licensed health professionals, but from other students at UCI who have assumed these helping roles. This is a different approach to counseling for students who find more comfort in speaking with fellow peers who they can more easily relate with. Each program has a different focus, whether it be group-based, individual-based, or special needs-based; but all have the same goal—to promote student mental health and well-being in all aspects of life.
History
Early to mid 1940s: University counseling centers began formal operations, responding to the increasing educational and vocational needs of returning
veterans
A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military.
A military veteran that h ...
of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
1950: The Association of College Counseling Center Directors (AUCCCD) was established in 1950 by a group of mid-western college and university counseling directors. Dr. Ralph Birdie, director of the Student Counseling Bureau at the
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. T ...
hosted the first conference on the UM campus. Annual meetings were hosted throughout the 1950s by several universities including the
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...
,
Michigan State
Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...
,
The Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publi ...
,
State University of Iowa
The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 coll ...
,
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...
, and the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...
. In the early days, the organization was referred to as the Annual Conference of College and University Counseling Directors. Conference attendance was based on invitation from participants and grew over time as directors around the country developed collegial relationships with each other. Initially membership was primarily drawn from mid-western institutions, but eventually the annual conference became a national affiliation of directors.
Following World War II, counseling centers were established in response to the educational and vocational needs of returning veterans. Directors were pioneering the development of organized counseling units and recognized their need to "talk shop" - to exchange information with each other and to develop a practical knowledge base on how to best to serve students. They gathered to discuss organizational issues, to share experience about how to work effectively with campus administration, and to discuss the nature of the work with students. An integral part of the annual meeting was the opportunity to develop and nourish collegial friendships through work and recreation in a restful setting.
Directors valued the opportunity to discuss confidential matters with their colleagues and trusted one another with sensitive details that they could not process with fellow administrators on their own campus. Directors were challenged with issues such as managing relations with campus administration and faculty who could be skeptical of the value of counseling students as well as issues related to the management of their staff. Conference attendance was restricted to directors with staffs of at least three
full-time equivalents (FTE) in order to create a confidential environment for consultation.
The annual conference provided the opportunity for both formal and ad hoc presentations, roundtable discussions, and individual consultation. The group was loosely organized as a "non-organization" with a minimum of bureaucracy, and the pivotal activity was the annual meeting. A steering committee was elected annually to manage routine business, and a conference host was chosen from among competing institutions during the conference business meeting.
The formal structure of AUCCCD as we now know it developed slowly through the 1980s with the decision to revise the organization's By-laws and to incorporate as a
non-profit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
. Throughout the 1990s several initiatives have been undertaken to develop a formal organizational structure to advance the business of AUCCCD as a national
professional organization
A professional association (also called a professional body, professional organization, or professional society) usually seeks to further a particular profession, the interests of individuals and organisations engaged in that profession, and th ...
, and to put significant emphasis on advocating on behalf of counseling and psychological issues in higher education. Conference membership increased considerably after the 3 FTE restriction was lifted in the 1990s.
Membership in AUCCCD is institutional, with one director being selected to represent the member college or university. The group has experienced significant growth, with a current membership of 836 universities and colleges throughout the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, and
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
and
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
.
1960s: As outpatient psychiatric clinics and services became more accessible to the general public, university counseling centers also began to provide standard psychological services to college students, including individual, couples, and group
psychotherapy; vocational and personality assessment; consultative services to college administration, faculty, parents, and students; and
crisis management
Crisis management is the process by which an organization deals with a disruptive and unexpected event that threatens to harm the organization or its stakeholders. The study of crisis management originated with large-scale industrial and envir ...
among other services to the campus community.
1968: The Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) began formally coordinating pre-doctoral and post doctoral
internships
An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...
and jobs. Currently, there are 444 pre-doctoral internships listed through APPIC.
1978: The Association of Counseling Center Training Agencies (ACCTA) was established to coordinate the training objectives of university counseling centers, including creation and maintenance of pre-doctoral internship and
practicum
A practicum (also called work placement, especially in the UK) is an undergraduate or graduate-level course, often in a specialized field of study, that is designed to give students supervised practical application of a previously or concurrent ...
programs.
[Heppner, P. P., Casas, J. M., Carter, J., & Stone, G. L. (2000). The maturation of counseling psychology: Multifaceted perspectives, 1978-1998. In S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.), ''Handbook of counseling psychology (3rd ed.)''. New York: Wiley.]
Notes
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External links
Counseling Center VillageWebsite created by and for university & college counseling center professionals.
Commission for Counseling and Psychological Services (CCAPS)ACPA's counseling center commission.
Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors
School counseling