Types of Counseling

Personal

Personal counseling helps address issues that can make it difficult for students to succeed in college. These may include: stress, grief, anxiety, depression, problems with self-esteem or relationships, culture shock, and other life concerns. Referrals may be made for long-term counseling or therapy if needed.

  • Feelings of sadness or depression
  • Feelings of stress or anxiety
  • Experiences of racism
  • Gender identity and sexuality
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Substance use
  • Community resource referral
  • Cultural conflicts
  • Life management
  • Difficulty sleeping
  • Emotion management
  • Grief and loss
  • Lack of balance in life
  • Relationship or family issues
  • Resolving campus interpersonal conflicts

Career

Career counseling helps students explore career paths that best fit their skills, needs, personality, and interests. Counselors use career assessment tools to help students gain a better understanding of their strengths and interests.

  • Career indecision
  • Career skills assessment
  • Career interest assessment
  • Career exploration
  • Aligning abilities and resources with career preparation and demands
  • Aligning life needs, desires with career pay
  • Major identification
  • Professional development
  • Identifying alternate majors and /or careers
  • Navigating work cultures and conflicts with personal and/or cultural values

Academic

Academic counseling helps students cope with issues related to classes, adjusting to college culture, understanding college processes and other issues. Referrals may be made to campus support services such as tutoring.

Students who are seeking guidance around class choices or seeking more information about the academic pathways toward our various degrees should visit or call the Advising Center 206.934.4068.

Some common topics discussed:

  • Life (time) Management
  • Study skills
  • Test anxiety
  • Learning (dis)abilities
  • College culture
  • Communicating with professors
  • Academic complaint process
  • Academic Alert and Probation
  • Academic pathway and transfer concerns
  • Imposter syndrome
  • Stereotype threat
  • Concerns about class
  • Campus involvement
  • Withdrawing from school
  • Resolving campus interpersonal conflicts

Crisis Intervention

While at school, students may occasionally encounter extremely challenging situations in their personal lives. Counseling staff are available to address these immediate problems and, if necessary, refer them to additional support services.

Immediate triggers and personal-historical precedents for a crisis are individual but some common ones include:

  • Acute and chronic traumas both physical and psychological
  • Grief
  • Physical or sexual abuse
  • Sexual assault and rape
  • Harassment
  • Experiences of racism and white supremacy
  • Developing mental illness
  • Exacerbated prior mental illness
  • Substance use and addiction