Individual Counseling

Counseling is a service that the university provides to you so that you can meet with a mental health professional to discuss personal problems that might be getting in the way of your academic success. Sometimes the goal of counseling is to explore possible ways to deal with a situation or problem. Sometimes counseling may give you added perspective into any underlying causes of the situations or problems. It is not unusual for things that happen in your life to be accompanied by strong emotions, both positive and negative. As a student, you may find yourself in situations where solutions don’t look easily available. There are so many tasks that you have to accomplish while you’re in college. You will need to establish healthy relationships with your peers, develop an identity independent from your family, manage the expected and unexpected disappointments of life, live through losses: these are realities that adults face at every age. Counseling may not be able to solve every problem or provide every answer, but it can offer you support and different resources as you live and cope with the discomfort of dealing with challenges.

You might need counseling if:

1. the problems and situations in your life exceed your ability to cope with them and
2. the resources you are aware of, and have access to, are not enough to help you reestablish balance without the help of a professionally trained counselor.

The events and feelings that bring you to counseling don’t necessarily have to be a matter of life or death, although those kinds of situations are also appropriate for counseling. Sometimes counseling can help when you are experiencing certain life events for the first time. A counselor may be able to offer you additional perspective, especially if your friends and family have little or no experience in similar situations. There are other times when the people that we usually rely on for emotional support are too close to the situation to stay objective. Meeting with a counselor to discuss your situation may actually help you decide if counseling would be useful.

The most important thing to understand about counseling is that it does not mean you are “crazy”. In fact, recognizing your needs and seeking help in meeting them is a sign of good sense and good self-care. When you have a physical injury that is not healing on its own, you seek help from a medical doctor, don’t you? Why should your response to mental or emotional discomfort be any different? People who come to counseling usually have something in their lives that they would like to change, but they don’t know how. If this sounds like you, it means that you are aware of yourself and the world around you, you are curious about the things you don’t know, and you are open to change. Thinking about changing can bring hope, but it can also be scary and difficult, so working with a counselor also demands courage in facing this fear. Recognizing these strengths in your self during the counseling process can contribute a lot to ensuring an overall positive counseling experience.

In most cases, the clinician you met with during your initial session will be who you receive individual therapy services from.

Sessions are typically scheduled every two to three weeks.  If you want weekly sessions, we invite you to check out Thriving Campus on our main page to find a provider in the community who offers weekly therapy.  By engaging in other services offered by the Counseling Center, in addition to individual therapy, you could receive weekly services.

You will be an active participant in creating mutual goals with your clinician based on your needs.  You will meet with your clinician to discuss strategies to reach your goals and more times than not homework is given to practice what you are learning in session.

Tip:  Write down on a notes app or notebook your goals for treatment, homework assignments, and key points you want to discuss in your therapy sessions.

You will talk with your clinician about any homework given, continue identifying and practicing strategies in and out of session to reach your identified goals, and items that may be impacting your mental health.  It is important to be an active participant in your treatment.

Please contact our front desk at 419-372-2081 and leave a message for your clinician and they will get back to you as soon as they are able to.  If it is an emergency, there is an emergency clinician M-F 8 a.m.-5 p.m. that you can speak to.  

If it is after business hours, please utilize the BGSU Crisis Response Team, Wood County Crisis Line, Crisis Text Line, or 988.

We encourage clients to share with your clinician if you aren't getting what you need in therapy.  We recognize this can be difficult.  

If you need to miss your appointment for any reason, please contact our front desk at 419-372-2081 and make the front desk staff aware.  It is best, if possible, to reschedule your appointment at that time as your clinician may have limited availabilty and therefore make it difficult to be rescheduled if you wait. 

At the beginning of treatment you will create mutual goals with your clinician.  As treatment is progressing you will talk with your clinician about when it is time for you to end treatment or get connected with a support that better suits your mental health needs.  If you have reached your established goals then you know it is time to end your episode of care.