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What is the IU Northwest Counseling Office?
- The IUN Counseling Office seeks to achieve three goals: to offer individual
counseling to students experiencing emotional distress, to sponsor a
variety of growth and educational opportunities that promote mental
and emotional health and to facilitate the formation of support groups
for specific needs and interests.
What is individual counseling about?
- Individual counseling for personal problems is available to all full
time and part time students at the University. The counseling offered
is professional and confidential. No information about a student is
ever released without the student's written permission, nor does it
ever become part of the student's permanent record. The counseling is
also offered at no cost to the student.
- For some students crisis intervention will be the main service provided,
but for others the focus of the counseling will be on helping the student
make better and healthier decisions for his or her life.
When should someone consider counseling?
- A student should consider getting an evaluation for counseling whenever
a personal problem, a behavior or a mood alteration interferes significantly
with normal functioning or with a significant relationship. If a personal
problem prevents a student from regular class attendance, from completing
assignments or from doing as well as usual on tests, then it is a good
idea to have the situation assessed.
How do I make an appointment?
- Appointments are best scheduled by telephone at 219-981-4235 during
scheduled hours of operation. Requests for appointments can also be
sent by e-mail to: rfontain@iun.edu
What kind of problems can be dealt with?
- Because we live at a time when the stresses of life can be overwhelming
and when many people suffer the after effects of abuse, trauma and/or
neglect, many people are subject to a variety of emotional difficulties.
Some of these include depression, anxiety, difficulty relating to others
and addiction to substances or to unhealthy behaviors. In addition,
adjusting to the many changes that we experience throughout a life time
can bring us the need to understand the meaning of these changes and
how to live with them.
What happens in the counseling process?
- The process begins with an intake interview and an evaluation of the
person's circumstance and presenting problem. Normally this is completed
in one to three sessions. This is usually followed by short term counseling,
frequently fewer than twelve visits. During these sessions the client
and the counselor explore not only the roots of the difficulty, but
also possibilities for growth and change.
What if the problem does not get better?
- Because the University cannot promise to offer treatment for every
emotional distress or condition, it will sometimes be best to make a
referral. If in the judgment of the counselor the student is in need
of long term counseling, or for more intensive treatment or for evaluation
for medication, an appropriate referral will be made at that time to
community or to private mental health facilities or resources.
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