When you arrive at a new environment, it is common to feel uncertain, nervous, or even stressed. Sometimes unexpected things could happen. What should you do? If you are afraid that you are running out of available options to address these challenges, it is a good idea to use the services at the Counseling Center. After all, your registration fee has already paid for it, so why not take advantages of it?
Counseling Center is located close to the Student Center and right next to the Division of Career Pathways. To make an appointment, you can call (949) 824-6457 or come in person to schedule an initial assessment. It may take up to 1-2 weeks to get an appointment. However, if you have urgent need, there is always an urgent care therapist available during business hours that you can go and talk to them at the center.
The Counseling Center is decorated in a way to make it a comfortable space. The space is cozy and the lighting is soft. There is also soothing music playing in the background of the waiting room. When I visited them before, the office of my counselor had a comfortable sofa to sit on. Adding to the fact that the people there are also nice, which makes the overall experience of the Counseling Center visit quite comfortable and relaxing.
The first session will be an information gathering session, in which the counselor will get to know you and learn about your challenges. You will first be asked to fill out an assessment before you meet with the counselor, who will then ask you additional questions based on the assessment that you filled out to understand more on what you are going through. These questions may not be directly related to your current needs, but they could help to explain how you feel and provide the counselors ways to address your issues. Your counselor might give you some suggestions or help, but more of those are likely to be given in future sessions.
In the subsequent sessions, the counselors will utilize diverse approaches to help guide you to address your feeling. For example, if you constantly blame yourself for everything that went wrong, your counselor might help you to address such emotion in a different way by asking you to rethink whether or not some of the mistakes are not avoidable, and in the process, help you to release unnecessary burden. Some action items could also be given to you at the end of the session, which would be followed up in the next meeting to assess if these approaches helped you improve your situations. The bottom line is that the counselors are very good listeners, and sometimes expressing out all of your frustrations and sadness to a good listener itself could be very helpful already.
The Counseling Center is only for short-term counseling, which last about 10 sessions, which is about the length of a quarter. However, the center does provide referral to off-campus counselors for long-term sessions, and some of them are covered by the student health insurance that way you do not have to spend too much money to get the help you need. Nevertheless, you can always come back to the counseling center for a new session if you encountered different issues in the future.
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Ssu-Chieh (Joe) HsuHome Country: TaiwanThe Henry Samueli School of Engineering
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