Overwhelmed by classes? Missing family? Had an argument with a friend?
Counseling is thought of as a long-term commitment to address a long-term problem. Priesthill offers a new type of counseling this semester, enabling students to call with a single issue and get an appointment on the same or following day.
“A single session is when you call up that morning and feel like you have something on your chest that you need to get off, something you need to talk through, but you wouldn't necessarily feel like you need to continue counseling,” Priesthill representative Kim Ball said.
Scheduled either on the same or following day, these issues could potentially be resolved in one meeting. Priesthill Counseling recommends calling during office hours or using other emergency resources as found on the website if there is a crisis.
In the past, students have only had the option of setting up traditional counseling, meaning the counselor builds a relationship with the student and they work on problems. Traditional counseling is still recommended for students that fall under the long-term category.
After requests last year, however, Priesthill Counseling Services decided to add single session therapy.
Priesthill reports single session therapy is already being used.
“We actually have had some students already sign up for that and use that, and so we’re seeing, even in this short time, that the students are putting that to good use, and only needing one session,” Ball said.
Some may ask: how will this affect students in traditional counseling? For students who are already enrolled in traditional counseling, single sessions will not be available. There will also be slightly fewer time slots for traditional students to schedule appointments.
Yet, the new system will allow for more people to be seen in the long run. In a survey sent to 55 people in all dorm buildings and the student apartments, 19 responded to various questions about this new counseling. Fifteen say they would consider, or would definitely utilize, single session therapy.
An example of one of the counseling rooms at Priesthill located in Jackson Hall. Wednesday, September 13th, 2023.
However, Priesthill reported at the beginning of the semester that the only verified place this new therapy has been advertised was the college website. This meant that those who were seeking out traditional counseling are the ones likely to find out, not students new to counseling in general.
At the time of the survey, nine of 19 students were currently involved or had used counseling—and only nine knew about single sessions. The more the message spreads, the better the whole of the student body can make use of this new tool.
Recently, a quick advertisement has been put up to run on the projector right before Chapel services, where most of campus can see it.
Ball said, “We’ve had several already interested … It takes a little while for it to catch on, cause not everybody reads the webpage … so, as the word gets out, and people start reading because they're finding a little more time than they did last week when they first started classes, we kind of expect some more.”