Scope of Service

College students face decisions and experience many changes. These changes may occasionally give rise to social or emotional concerns which can contribute to conflicts and questions that may impact your ability to function to your full potential. The Student Counseling Center's (SCC) primary purpose is to improve students' ability to learn and strengthen their overall success both academically and socially. We believe that good mental health forms the foundation of personal, academic, and career success and we strive to meet the needs of SRU students in terms of their individual personal development. The SCC faculty provide brief, confidential counseling aimed at helping students succeed academically and inter-personally. When students require counseling services that are beyond the role and scope of the SCC, we will make appropriate referrals to campus and community resources. Similarly, students whose needs require a particular expertise not found in the SCC are also referred to outside resources that can better address the student's needs.

The SCC strives to create an environment that fosters student growth, development, and psychological well-being through education, awareness programming and direct counseling services. The number of sessions is determined by clinical need, and defined by the counselor but is short term in nature. All students seeking services will receive an initial appointment in order to determine whether student needs fall within the role and scope of the SCC. The initial assessment may be extended to additional appointments to determine the appropriateness of SCC services. For those individuals who need more than brief counseling the counselor will help coordinate referrals to outside resources when longer-term or more intensive counseling is required. In that case the counselor will continue to assist the student until they get connected with the needed services.

The most appropriate form of counseling and the determination that a student may not be appropriate for SCC services is determined primarily by the SCC Counselor in collaboration with the student. Students with the following concerns and characteristics will likely need a different type or level of care than what is within the role and scope of the SCC:

- Students who demonstrate a serious lack of motivation or engagement in treatment; who do not have realistic goals; or who are unable to comply with treatment

- Students who appear to need long term treatment beyond the scope of our services or are unable to tolerate extended breaks from counseling, reasons may include:

• Students with a history of multiple psychiatric hospitalization
• Students who are likely to require 24 hour care, emergency intervention or extensive case management.
• Student with a chronic history of suicide attempts or a risk of self-harm or harm to others that is beyond the level of services reasonably provided by the SCC.
• Student with a significant history of previous treatment
• Students with active eating disorders requiring extensive medical monitoring
• Student with concerns which a brief therapy model of treatment will not appropriately address

- Students who need services other than what is offered at Counseling Services or requires expertise and/or resources unavailable at the SCC, reasons may include:

• Students needing intensive outpatient or inpatient treatment; other specialty services
• Students needing medical detoxification and/or medical stabilization
• Student seeking on-going mandated treatment
• Student seeking comprehensive assessments, such as those for disability determination, ADHD, or other accommodations
• Students seeking documentation for an emotional support animal
• Students consistently needing services more than once per week and/or frequent consultation after hours that cannot be stabilized with short-term crisis intervention
• Student seeking psychological assessments or evaluations for selection, performance prediction or forensic purposes (e.g., for professional school application, military, employment security, or other legal litigation or adjudications)

- Students who are already receiving on-going therapy with another mental health provider

- Students seeking therapy for the sole purpose of obtaining documentation for another office