Making the Most of Counseling
- Attend all of your scheduled counseling sessions, or let your counselor know if you have to miss.
- Honestly and openly voice your thoughts and feelings in counseling.
- Between sessions, think through the concerns you are addressing in counseling.
- Complete your counseling homework assignments.
- Experiment with new and positive ways of doing things and thinking about things.
- Give your counselor feedback about how counseling is going.
You are not Alone!
When you need an objective, caring listener who is knowledgeable about a wide range of human concerns, the Counseling Center is the place to go. Successful relationships, careers and personal satisfaction frequently result from the solutions to life problems addressed in college. We offer individualized, developmentally-oriented counseling that is geared toward helping students meet the challenges that stand in the way of success. We offer mostly short-term counseling, with longer-term services available as staffing expertise and resources allow. We can also assist in making referrals to off-campus professionals when specialized or longer-term services are needed.
Individual & Couples Counseling
Groups
Crisis Intervention
Confidentiality
What students say about us
Where to find Academic and Career Counseling
Individual & Couples Counseling
Students seek help for a variety of personal issues. Some of the most common are:
- Self-esteem and identity
- Relationships (family, friends, significant others)
- Depression
- Anxiety and Stress
- Grief
- Eating Disorders & Body Image Concerns
- Substance Abuse
If you are interested in scheduling personal counseling, we ask that you call to schedule an appointment and go online to complete a couple of counseling forms. If you are not sure whether the Counseling Center is the place to go, contact us and we can assess it together. We will do our best to find the best place to meet your needs.
For more information, see Frequently Asked Questions, and What Students Say about their counseling experience with us.
Groups
Sometimes it's helpful to work through personal problems with other people who are facing the same issues. The Counseling Center will sponsor or co-sponsor special-topic groups as the need arises. If you have an idea for a group, please give us a call at 232-2468.
Examples of groups offered in the recent past include: grief support group, body image discussion group, and a women's group.
2007/08 Groups
Support Group for Sexual Assault Survivors - Sponsored by the Campus Violence Prevention Project (CVPP), this group will include educational topics and open discussion among group members.
- Meeting dates/times: 1st and 3rd Thursdays from 4-5 p.m.
- Location: 425 Bowman Hall
- For more information: contact Jessica Bryan at 232-2468 or bryanje@uwstout.edu
"Breaking Free” from Food and Body Obsession - This counseling process group provides a confidential and safe environment for Stout students who struggle with eating concerns. “Breaking Free” is open to individuals who struggle with obsessing about food and weight loss, restricting their food, bingeing, and/or purging. Participants will gain insight into thoughts, feelings, and environmental triggers behind their behaviors. From group members, participants can gain support and healthy ways to manage their behaviors. Struggles with body image will also be addressed.
- To ensure that the group is the appropriate treatment method for you, you are asked to participate in a brief screening to join. Please contact Jill Salsman, Ph.D. if you are interested in joining at 232-2468 or salsmanj@uwstout.edu
Crisis Intervention
For emergencies regarding student safety and well-being, including suicidal thoughts or attempts, threats to other persons and sexual assault, we will do everything we can to respond in a timely fashion. If you are experiencing a personal crisis, see Emergency/After-Hours Assistance.
Confidentiality
All counseling records are kept confidential, and are not part of university records. With rare exceptions, no information is released to anyone outside the Counseling Center, including other university offices, faculty, staff, or parents without written consent. Exceptions to confidentiality include life-threatening situations (i.e., when someone is deemed to be an imminent danger to harm themselves or others; or in cases of suspected child abuse) or appropriate court order. In these cases, Counselors may disclose information to protect a client or others from harm, or to comply with legal mandates. Counseling Center staff members may share information with each other for the purposes of consultation and training.
What Students Say About Us
The Counseling Center has a good reputation on campus! During any given year, approximately 500 students seek counseling at the Center. On average, each student attends 4-5 counseling sessions. The table below summarizes ratings of several counselor characteristics that were included on a satisfaction survey completed by student clients during the 2006/07 academic year. It is clear that clients experienced their counselors in a very positive light overall, giving them an average rating of 4.6 on a 5 point scale (from “poor” to “excellent”).
Ratings of Counselor Characteristics
Item |
Rating (0-5) |
Respect and acceptance |
4.8 |
Caring and supportiveness |
4.7 |
Understanding of concerns |
4.7 |
Knowledge/competence |
4.7 |
Support of my decision-making |
4.6 |
Helpfulness in clarifying/reaching goals |
4.5 |
Sensitivity to individual differences |
4.5 |
We also ask students to tell us how counseling was helpful to them. The table below summarizes the percentage of students who marked "agree" or "strongly agree" to each category.
Client ratings of specific types of improvement
As a result of Counseling I have been able to…. |
% of students |
Understand myself better |
85% |
Make more effective decisions |
79% |
Improve my relationships |
75% |
Manage stress more effectively |
74% |
Live a healthier lifestyle in at least one area (sleep, diet, exercise, AOD use) |
73% |
Focus better on studies |
61% |
Narrative comments were also quite positive overall. A few examples are listed below.
- “Great services. I love the proactive approach that my counselor took.”
- “The Counseling Center helped me through some hard times and for that I am thankful. I have seen counselors at other facilities in the past and [my counselor here] was much better.”
- “Even when I came in for an emergency session, while my counselor was unavailable, they fit me in immediately and had me talk to someone else.”
- “As an RA I have had an excellent experience at the Counseling Center, and I have recommended and gotten a few friends to seek help there also.”
- “I felt that the counselor I was placed with was a great fit for me and what I want to get out of counseling. I was able to be very open and honest with him and the advice and support I was given was really great.”
Finally, 90% of students who completed the satisfaction survey rated the overall quality of service as “very good” or “excellent, and 94% agreed or strongly agreed that they would return in the future, if needed and would recommend the Counseling Center to a friend.
Where to find Academic & Career Counseling
Academic and Career Counseling - Specialized services and resources for academic and career-related concerns are available through the UW-Stout Advisement Center. There you can talk to counselors about such things as making schedule changes, academic program changes, transfer decisions, and withdrawing from UW-Stout. You can also take interest assessments and consult with someone about exploring different majors and careers.