Counseling Services
Counseling services are available Monday through Friday, 9am until 4:30pm.
Currently enrolled, Belmont Abbey College full-time traditional students are eligible to use counseling services.
- Counseling appointments can be made by phone or in person, but not via email. Walk-in sessions are available on a first come basis or in cases of crisis. Parents, friends, or faculty cannot schedule counseling appointments for a student.
- Counseling Services is located in the Wellness Center, behind the Haid Theater, on the lower garden level.
- For more information or to make an appointment, please call 704-461-5065.
Students requiring care after hours have several options:
- Campus Police are on duty 24/7 and can be reached at 704-461-6200.
- 24-hour: Sexual Assault Crisis Line Safe Alliance 704-375-9900
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
- Online anonymous depression screening and local mental health resources:
- Counseling is the process during which you work with a professionally trained, licensed counselor in becoming a healthier human being in all aspects of life: Emotional, Intellectual, Physical, and Spiritual.
- A voluntary activity. Whether you decide to return for more sessions is up to you.
- A confidential discussion about a situation, problem, relationship, family issue, or habit that you want to change.
- A positive step you can take when you get stuck in life.
- An educational and growth oriented experience.
- The total number of sessions will vary depending on your presenting issues. At times, your clinician may recommend psychological testing as an aid to your work in counseling.
- Each counseling session appointment last up to 50 minutes depending on the needs of the student.
A counselor can be sought out for just about any reason that they believe is valid or important, such as:
- Adjusting to college
- Alcohol or drug abuse
- Anger Management
- Depression
- Family issues
- Learning how to support friends in crisis
- Loss of any kind including a friend or family member
- Relationship challenges
- Self-esteem challenges
- Suicidal Thinking
- Test Anxiety
- To have someone listen to you non-judgmentally
- To receive a referral
The counseling relationship is confidential, which means your clinician will not give out ANY information about you without your written consent. State law and ethical standards of psychology require that we report information about you in the following circumstances:
- If there is a clear and imminent danger that you may harm yourself or others.
- If a record is court ordered by a proper legal authority.
- If there is suspected or confirmed abuse of children or vulnerable adults.
- If you are a minor and are not considered emancipated (living away from home and/or supporting yourself).
- Workshops/ events are typically one session in length and are educational in nature. They can focus on a variety of life management issues and are useful in both promotion of healthier lifestyle choices and fostering awareness of mental health and substance abuse issues. Workshops and events are often offered to the entire campus community.
- Common themes for workshops include but are not limited to:
- Managing exam stress
- This event was specifically designed to aid all students, however; more specifically students that experience high levels of exam stress. This event is held each semester before final exams and offers several tips pertaining to how to study wisely and effectively for final exams. A newly added component is utilizing two certified therapy dogs and their owners as a way to give students a healthy break from studying, thereby lowering their stress levels.
- Therapy Dog event
- The Dogs on Campus Pet Therapy Program is designed for college students, faculty and staff. People miss their dogs, an integral part of their family and support system. By acknowledging their separation anxiety, maybe we can bridge the gap between home and heart. It has also been proven through research that dogs lower both stress and blood pressure.
- National Depression Day
- This event was designed to promote awareness surrounding depression. Each student that attends this event receives information pertaining to recognizing signs and symptoms of depression resources that they can utilize if they suspect depression in themselves or in a friend. Some of the resources provided are setting an appointment with counseling services, a confidential online depression screening, and a 24 hour suicide crisis hotline. The event also utilizes the Depression Wheel, which is similar to the “Wheel of Fortune”. Students can spin this wheel in order to answer questions on depression and mental illness which helps to expand their awareness regarding this topic. Students are also able to enter a raffle for gift cards to local restaurants if they are able to correctly answer these questions.
- Alcohol Awareness/Prevention
- This event, which is held once a semester, is designed to promote awareness surrounding alcohol abuse. Each student that attends this event receives information pertaining to the dangers of alcohol abuse. Students that attend this event are also able to spin the Alcohol Awareness Wheel, similar to the “Wheel of Fortune”. Students spin this wheel in order to answer alcohol related questions, which helps to expand their awareness regarding this topic. Students are also able to enter a raffle for gift cards to local restaurants if they are able to correctly answer these questions.
Parents
It is not unusual for a student to come to college having already received counseling at home. Others may not have previous counseling experience but may have difficulty with transitioning to college or may have other issues or concerns arise while at college. In either of these circumstances, students and parents are advised to consult with Counseling Services to get information about the best options available. We can assess your child’s current needs and then link him or her with the most appropriate treatment option. Such options may include any of the following short-term individual counseling with Counseling Services and/or a referral to a qualified provider in the community. In any circumstance, parents are encouraged to offer continued support and involvement as this is often crucial to the well-being of the student.
- If your daughter or son has a relationship with a therapist at home, she or he may want to continue that relationship and will need to make appropriate arrangements. Your child may need to be connected with a new therapist in the area. In addition, if your child is receiving treatment and medication management with a psychiatrist at home, it will be important to determine how to maintain that relationship during the academic year. The transition to college is a time when direct therapeutic support is especially valuable to students with previous psychological or psychiatric treatment. Counseling Services therefore recommends that families discuss with the student’s therapist and/or psychiatrist or other health care provider how this transition will best be handled.
- If private insurance covers your child’s care, it is important that parents, students and the home therapist and/or psychiatrist work with that provider prior to beginning college in order to arrange for on-going care. Counseling Services strongly recommends that you and your daughter or son begin these preparations at least two months prior to arriving at college. Counseling Services can assist with resource information.
- Homesickness is a normal response to separation from people, places and things that give you a sense of belonging. Most people experience homesickness at some point in their lives; relocation for new job, starting college, or studying abroad.
- If your son/daughter should become homesick let them know that it is normal. They are not inadequate, it does pass, and there are some things they can do which may help them get through some of those “sad and lonely feelings”.
- For example, it may be helpful to suggest to your student:
- Familiarize themselves with their new surroundings. Walk around. He/she will feel more in control if they know where buildings, classes, services are located.
- Invite people to explore their new surroundings with them. Making friends is a big step in alleviating homesickness.
- Establish a routine as soon as possible. The fuller their days are, the less time they will have to feel homesick or lonely.
- Examine your expectations. We’d all like to be popular, out-going, well-adjusted, but we’re not.
- Don’t allow setting their goals too high or being a perfectionist create more trouble for them.
- Learn to laugh at their mistakes.
- Seek new opportunities. Seek out activities they are interested in where they might meet new people. Remember there are other people out there experiencing the same feelings that they are.
- Keep in contact with family & friends. This can help them feel connected. It is also comforting to receive mail and know that they are missed. He/she may want to keep a journal as well. This can be a good way to get their feelings out rather than just ruminating about them.
- Do something! Don’t wait for homesickness to go away by itself. Trying to ignore it only increases the chances that it will resurface as fatigue, a cold, or a headache. If he/she feels none of these efforts are working, they may want seek professional help. Call the Wellness Center at (704) 461-5081, and ask to meet with a counselor.
