Counseling Center

We Support Student Mental Wellbeing

We strive to achieve this mission by:

• being a resource center for Rhode Island College students to obtain information and services needed to improve and maintain their health
• advocating, creating and maintaining a community that encourages environmental, physical, social, intellectual, and emotional wellness to support a healthy lifestyle and encourage student success
• creating and implementing health initiatives aimed to improve individual and community health at Rhode Island College
• collaborating with students, faculty and staff, and other organizations on and off campus to encourage and foster health initiatives on campus
• maintaining cultural competence and expanding the understanding of the links between culture, identity, and social justice as determinants of health
• offering confidential individual consultation and referrals for students in need

What Happens in Counseling?

Our main goal is for you to feel both understood and cared for. After assessing the concerns together, you and your therapist will develop a plan that meets your needs.

Although much learning in college occurs in the classroom, there is also a great deal of learning that occurs outside it. In counseling, the learning is about you, who you really are and where you are going with your life, how to manage emotions, or how to resolve or cope with internal or interpersonal conflicts. Counseling can help renew a sense of active engagement in learning and life.

Please Note: All services at the Counseling Center are free to Rhode Island College students. You do not need to provide insurance or payment of any sort. Counseling is covered by your student health fee and tuition, so you and/or your insurance will never be billed.

Types of Counseling Services Provided

• Individual Counseling
• Crisis Intervention
• Group Counseling (call for information about current group offerings)
• Referral Services
• Couples Counseling
• Outreach and Consultation

Our Approach

The approaches to counseling used by our staff and students span a diversity of perspectives, yet there is also cohesiveness in our understanding of what promotes wellness and distress. Our therapists tend to be informed by humanistic, contemporary relational psychodynamic and mindfulness-based approaches and consider systemic and cultural factors. This amounts to respect for the client as an important collaborator, a broad perspective that past relationships often impact and guide our current relationships with others and ourselves while balancing this with a focus on the present, and an understanding that many factors outside of us contribute to our wellbeing.

How is My Counselor Selected?

Students will have a chance to indicate their preferences about the background of their therapist. We are invested in facilitating the best match between therapist and client.

Confidentiality

The RIC Counseling Center takes students’ privacy very seriously and maintains a strict policy on confidentiality. Limitations to confidentiality will be discussed at the first session. Mental health records are maintained separately from your academic records and are not released without your written consent.

Our Sessions - General Information

• First session and crisis appointments are always in person.
• In-person and telehealth appointments are available.
• Appointments last 45-50 minutes.
• Providing short term solution focused therapy to all our students.

Crisis Appointments

If you are experiencing overwhelming challenges and need to speak with a therapist urgently, we offer same day appointments during the week.

TELUS Health and the Hope Line

You can speak with a clinician any time of day or night, thanks to RIC Counseling Center's partnership with TELUS Health. Calling the Hope Line or using the TELUS Health app will get you in touch with a TELUS Health clinician.

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