This
section of the Guide focuses on personal counseling, which is provided on many campuses to
help students deal with psychological issues in their lives. For “counseling” in the sense of
“academic advising,” see the section on Advising, above.
Of
all the student support services usually available to on-campus students, personal
counseling may seem the least susceptible to being offered via the Web. Face-to-face interaction may seem essential to the
very nature of the counseling process, and there are legitimate privacy concerns to
address. Email therapy is not a substitute
for formal mental health treatment, but, if privacy issues are made clear, it is still
possible to provide some personal advice counseling over the Internet.
In addition to—or instead of—providing one-on-one counseling at a distance, institutions can also make available other kinds of valuable counseling services to students via the Web. These include self-help materials and various kinds of public forums in which issues of general concern to college students can be discussed in a shared context.
Good Practice Recommendations
Describe personal counseling services. Make clear what resources are available to students through the Counseling Office. California State University, Chico
Provide help for those experiencing a mental health crisis. People in crisis need to be directed to
contacts who can provide immediate help. Your
institution does not need to offer 24-hour crisis coverage, but your web site should list
Crisis Help prominently. Feature instructions
on how to access your local crisis information line or other sources of immediate help. (University of Washington)
List and introduce the Counseling staff. It may help students who are reluctant to
seek help to read a brief description or even see a picture of the counselors. Contact information, including phone numbers and
email addresses, should be provided for each staff counselor. (Rio Hondo Community College)
Provide self-help articles. These
online self-help brochures may be the same ones that are available in the
counseling/psychological services office. (Kansas State University)
Link to self-help materials developed by other college and
university counseling centers. For
example, students can be directed to the extensive online collection of pamphlets on
various mental health topics that is maintained by the (University of Chicago) Another external resource is
Help.Your.Self (Notre Dame) written by counseling center
professionals for college students and reviewed for inclusion by Review Boards of
counseling professionals and undergraduate students.
You may want to issue some kind of disclaimer near links to such external
resources.
Address confidentiality issues. The issue of informed consent is important when counseling services are to be provided on the web. For this reason, your web page should make clear the degree to which confidentiality is (or is not) protected when students and counselors communicate via email. (Portland State University)