UpDate - Vol. 11, No. 7, Page 7
October 17, 1991
Career and personal counseling available at center

     Feeling angry because you did poorly on a test? Sad because
your special someone broke up with you? Lonely because you have no
one to go out with on a Saturday night? Or maybe just depressed by
life in general?
     The place to turn for help on campus is the Center for
Counseling and Student Development (CCSD).
     Located above the University Bookstore in the Perkins Student
Center, CCSD is staffed with nine psychologists and four graduate
interns. The center offers confidential, personal, career and
educational counseling for students as well as eight support groups
which meet regularly.
     John Bishop, dean of counseling and student development,
estimated there will be between 1,500-1,600 requests for counseling
at the center this year, which is about 10 percent of the student
body.
     "Approximately 25 percent of all graduated students of the
University have used the counseling services at some time during
their collegiate career," Bishop said.
     Students always come to college with a variety of concerns and
problems, Bishop said, such as adjusting to college life,
homesickness and career anxiety. But the generation of today has
even more concerns.
     "Today's young people are exposed to a wider variety of
adult-like experiences at an earlier age than was true for previous
generations. That does not mean they are more mature; they may just
have had shorter childhoods."
     Students are more likely to be dealing with suicidal thoughts,
eating disorders, alcohol and drug addiction or the aftermath of a
sexual or criminal assault, and Bishop stressed that "the general
severity of problems is on the increase."
     The CCSD has group counseling on sexual abuse, eating
disorders, relaxation, stress reduction and general therapy. These
groups are led by one or two counselors and generally meet
one-and-a-half hours per week.
     One of the more popular support groups, which has existed for
about seven years, is a women's group. Women who attend examine a
wide variety of topics-self-esteem, assertiveness, independency/
dependency-in a supportive atmosphere.
     "Women today," Bishop said, "face a more complex set of
decisions, balancing career aspirations with family
considerations." In this setting, he added, "women can just focus
on problems that are unique to women these days."
     A new group offered this semester, initiated at the request of
the Lesbian/Gay/ Bisexual Student Union, is open to lesbians, gays,
bisexuals and others who are dealing with issues related to sexual
preference.
     Group counseling, Bishop said, allows people to realize that
others have similar problems. He added that there is power in
having a group of people consider a concern that they all have in
common, and interest in support groups is growing "slowly but
steadily."
     To help with the pressure of career decisions, the CCSD offers
a Career Exploration Group. This provides help in selecting majors
and careers and assists in discovering interests, values and
skills. In addition, CCSD has a career library, interest and
personality inventories and computer-based career decision-making
programs.
     However, the center is strongest with helping in the early
stages of career decision-making and is most beneficial to
undecided majors, he said.
     Career choices is a growing concern of students, Bishop said.
"This is the first generation of college students who may be
downwardly mobile, in terms of their economic futures," he said,
explaining that they may not be able to reach the same standard of
living as their parents.
     "Students are having some anxiety about that and are asking:
'If I major in a certain subject, will I have gainful employment?'
" He added that some parents are placing pressure on their sons and
daughters by refusing to pay for school if they major in liberal
arts.
     The center also assists in counseling "retention risk"
students, which involves those who are thinking of transferring to
another school or dropping out altogether. In studies conducted at
the CCSD, about 90 percent of the "retention risk" students who
took advantage of counseling remained at the University.
     Counseling helps these students make decisions and develop a
stronger sense of why they are here, Bishop said. He added that
counseling is now seen as "one of the retention tools to help a
student be successful here."
                                        - Sherry Rubin