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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q. What is counseling?
Talking with a counselor is different than talking to a friend,
relative, teacher, or other person in your everyday life. Counseling
is a form of professional help in which persons have an opportunity
to take a more objective look at their lives. Counselors are
trained to be objective, unbiased listeners. They can help you
get to the root of what is bothering you and in a way, they can
help you to help yourself. Counselors are also trained to deal
with a variety of crisis situations (such as suicide, rape, sexual
harassment) and have an extensive referral network of mental
health professionals in the New York City area to ensure students
get the help they need.
Counseling tends to be focused on specific problems and concerns,
and includes exploring options for problem solving. Other forms
of counseling, like psychotherapy, involve these same explorations,
but also try to understand the relationship between current stress,
personality features, and past experience.
Q. What is psychotherapy?
- Psychotherapy is a process of learning about yourself
in order to
make changes in how you experience your life and interact in
the world.
- Psychotherapy involves stretching to see yourself
and others more
clearly and finding more satisfying and effective ways of interacting.
- Often psychotherapy involves learning to recognize,
tolerate and
respond to your emotional needs on an ongoing basis. If you have
had
difficult, painful and/or traumatic experiences, psychotherapy
will involve
working through and integrating these experiences.
- A psychotherapy relationship is carefully structured
to provide a
safe space for you to explore who you are and how you view and
relate to
yourself and others.
- A therapist is trained to see, and help you to
see, the patterns of
feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that may be contributing to
you feeling
stuck or experiencing distressing symptoms.
- Your role in psychotherapy will be to share openly
and honestly about
your life, your experiences, and what you are thinking and feeling
during
the session. Together we will begin to notice patterns and make
connections that will help us make sense of the difficulties
that led you
to seek therapy.
- Your goals and your process of reaching them will
be unique to you;
we will work together to identify ways for you to stretch and
grow toward
your goals.
Q. What does the Counseling Center do?
The Counseling Center helps students to define and achieve
their personal and academic goals. The Counseling Center can
help you to:
- Recognize what is upsetting you
- Clarify your goals
- Focus on your studies
- Help you find ways to deal with difficult situations
- Make decisions about your future
Counselors work with students on a wide variety of personal
problems. Some of these concerns include:
- Problems in interpersonal relationships
- Conflicts about sexuality
- Time management
- Substance abuse
- Family problems
- Eating disorders
- Test anxiety
- Difficulties with academic achievements
- Feelings of inadequacy, depression and loneliness
- Stress
- AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases
- Difficulties adjusting to a new country and/or lifestyle
- Homesickness
In addition to one-on-one counseling sessions and group sessions,
the Counseling Center offers workshops, video screenings, and
discussion groups. Topics of previous workshops have included
Assertiveness, Procrastination, Stress Reduction, Test Anxiety,
Asian Students and Cultural Adjustment. Please let us know what
workshops you would like to see.
Q. Who can use the Counseling Center?
The Counseling Center offers professional counseling and
psychotherapy to anyone who is currently enrolled and registered
as an undergraduate or graduate student at Baruch College. Baruch
faculty, staff and alumni may be seen for consultation and referral.
Non-degree and non-matriculated Baruch students are also seen
for consultation and referral.
Q. What types of Counseling are offered at the Center?
Personal Counseling
This type of counseling typically deals with personal and interpersonal
or relationship problems. The questions above have primarily
described the personal counseling process.
Group Counseling
This type of counseling typically deals with discussing issues
as a group.
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