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Text-Only Version

For Faculty and Staff: Guide to Student Referral and Consultation:
(Adapted and modified, with permission, from the web pages of Bowling Green State University Counseling Center , Bowling Green, Ohio)

In an effort to facilitate the referral and consultation process, we offer the following guidelines for utilizing the Counseling Center's services and resources. Further details about the nature of our services can also be found on other pages throughout this web site.

If you are seeking information on how to refer a student to Disability Services rather than the Counseling Center, please see the Disability Services site for the appropriate information.

If you are a faculty or staff member seeking a counseling referral for yourself rather than a student, please see bottom of this page, Faculty and Staff Seeking Counseling .

When to consider referring a student to the Counseling Center:

Due to your role at the university, students in distress may sometimes turn to you for support, advice, and referral to other sources of help. You might also observe students who appear to be having difficulties and wonder how you might be able to reach out to them. Or, others might come to you expressing concerns about a student whose behavior is distressing or concerning to them. The following are intended as guidelines to help you decide when to refer; they are not hard and fast rules, and your personal and professional judgement will always come into play. However, you are not expected to be a counselor, and when in doubt about whether or not to make a referral, we encourage you to consult with our staff (please see below, Seeking Professional Consultation With Our Staff ).

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Examples of student distress that do not necessarily, in and of themselves, suggest a referral to the Counseling Center:

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Examples of signs that a student may be experiencing more stress than he or she can handle, suggesting consideration of a referral to the Counseling Center or other source of assistance:

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Emergency situations which require an immediate referral:

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Assisting Emotionally Troubled Students:

Listed below are some tips that will help you to be a good listener, and may increase a student's willingness to accept a referral to the Counseling Center or other resources, if deemed necessary:

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How to refer a student to the Counseling Center:

Except in emergency situations, students are seen at the Counseling Center by appointment. Generally, students are offered an Initial Consultation session within a week of the student's request for services. During the initial consultation, we gather information from the student about what their difficulties are and assess what services might be most helpful for them. If they are interested in ongoing counseling, we would either recommend counseling here, or help them access an outside referral as appropriate. Following the Initial Consultation, a short delay may occur before ongoing counseling is scheduled (depending upon staff availability, demand for services, and the severity of the student's presenting problem). Please keep in mind that services at the Counseling Center are voluntary . Therefore, you may encourage or suggest that a student seek counseling, but it is ultimately the student's decision. In referring a student to our office, please take the following steps:

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Crisis Situations

During the hours of 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday (7:30 - 4 p.m. during the summer), students in crisis may be seen the same day on a walk-in basis. If you are confronted with a student in crisis and wish to refer him or her on an emergency basis, if possible please call our office prior to the student's arrival to provide us with some background information. We will gladly consult with you about how to make the referral, and discuss whether immediate intervention is necessary. Whenever possible, please inform the student in crisis that you are sharing information with us. In crisis situations, you may wish to walk the student over to our office personally.

If a faculty or staff member needs to consult about a student crisis occurring after hours, or during a weekend or holiday, Counseling Center staff members are on-call. The faculty or staff member should call the Counseling Center at 231-7671, and the answering service will refer the call to a counselor for emergency consultation. This emergency service is available from 5 p.m.-8 a.m. weekday evenings, and on weekends during the academic year, with the exception of university breaks including Thankgiving break, Christmas Break, Spring Break, and during the summer between Spring and Fall semesters. For emergencies during those times, we recommend utilizing community resources such as the 24-hour FirstLink Hotline (235-7335), or one of the alternate resources listed in the "Other Resources" section below.

If you are a student seeking assistance after hours (rather than a faculty or staff member), please see our Crisis Intervention page for guidance.

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Other Resources:

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Seeking Professional Consultation with Our Staff

Although our office provides counseling and psychiatric services only to students, we are available to consult with faculty and staff about concerns that may arise, particularly concerns that pertain to the welfare of students. Staff and faculty members are invited to call our office and request consultation with the counselor on "walk-in" duty or other appropriate staff member. While we are not at liberty to reveal any information about specific students (including whether or not a particular student has received services here), we can often provide you with general information that may be of help in handling the situation, and you are welcome to provide us with any relevant information you have about the student(s). If no one is immediately available to provide consultation at the time of your call, you will be invited to leave a message. When leaving a message, please include the following information:

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Letter Requests:
(Adapted and modified, with permission, from the web pages of the Texas A&M university Student Counseling Service).

Sometimes faculty or staff refer students who have been experiencing academic difficulties to the Counseling Center in order to request a letter "verifying" personal problems that may have interfered with their academic performance.

At times serious personal problems do interfere with one’s ability to concentrate on studies. Although counselors want to be supportive when they can, it is important for faculty, staff and students to understand that counselors cannot help confirm difficulties of which they have no prior information or only very little knowledge.

If students have no counseling record other than an initial screening or a crisis intervention session, a letter may only confirm that the student came to the Counseling Center and disclosed difficulties that may or may not have affected academic performance earlier in the semester. This type of letter is usually not very helpful.

On the other hand, if a student has been seen for ongoing counseling while experiencing these difficulties, counselors are more likely to be able to write a supportive letter.

If you believe a student is experiencing personal difficulties that may be negatively impacting his/her academic performance and that he/she might benefit from counseling, it is generally most helpful to suggest that the student seek counseling early on, in order to help prevent such difficulties impacting them later on in the semester.

If a student has a documented disability for which he or she is requesting or receiving accommodations, please refer him or her to Disability Services for assistance. Again, the earlier these services are set up, the more likely it is that problems can be prevented in the future!

We appreciate your cooperation and understanding in these matters.

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Tips For Managing Emotionally-Laden Classroom Discussions

Sometimes troubling events from outside the classroom have a way of intruding on classroom discussions. After all, students often look to faculty for guidance in understanding the world around them, and course topics often focus or touch on troubling world events. The following link from Hobart and William Smith Colleges provides some general guidelines that may prove helpful in managing emotionally-laden class room discussions: Tips for Managing Emotionally-Laden Classroom Discussions

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Faculty and Staff Seeking Counseling

If you are an NDSU staff or faculty member seeking mental health services for yourself or an immediate family member, please contact The Village Employee Assistance Program (the counseling service that NDSU contracts with for faculty and staff), at 1-800-627-8220 (1-888-510-7433 TTY Access), and identify yourself as a member of The Village EAP. Please see NDSU policy 134 for further details. Feel free to contact our office if we may be of assistance in facilitating this process.

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