Common After Intake Questions
The following information has been compiled for new clients at University Counseling Services (UCS). We realize during your intake appointment we provide you with a great deal of information and sometimes, due to time constraints, you may leave with questions that haven’t been answered. We put together a list of typical questions we receive from our new clients. Some of these may not be relevant or of interest to you but we wanted to provide you with as much information as possible to make you more comfortable with UCS.
- What happens after the intake?
- How will I find out my regular counseling time?
- Who will be my counselor?
- Will the counselor I am assigned to work with always be my counselor?
- Who are the staff at UCS and what are their credentials?
- I was told that information at UCS is kept confidential. What does this really mean?
- What if I need help before my first appointment or for that matter after I start counseling?
- What if I am not sure if counseling is for me?
- How will regular counseling be different from the intake appointment I just had?
- I was told that there was a waitlist. How long will I have to wait?
- I have never been in counseling before. What is the normal process of counseling?
- How long will I be in counseling?
- The Intake counselor discussed group counseling with me and thought I would benefit from it. What is group counseling?
- How do I switch counselors?
- What should I do if I did not share important information during my intake appointment?
- What is expected of me as a client at UCS?
- What should I expect of my counselor at UCS?
- I am a person that likes to read specific information on topics of interest to me. Does UCS have books that I may check out?
- I was referred for a psychiatric evaluation with a medical provider. Why was this done?
- Will I need to fill out paperwork when I attend my ongoing counseling sessions?
- I signed a pink form that reviewed a lot of legal information. Can I get a copy of that?
- What should I do if I have a question that is not asked/answered here?
What happens after the intake?
Now that you have completed the intake appointment, you will be contacted by e-mail from UCS about your first appointment with your counselor. Once you confirm that the time and date work for you, you will come to UCS at the pre-determined time and will meet with your counselor. The appointment time will be a 50-minute time slot set aside for you each week until counseling is complete.
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How will I find out my regular counseling time?
As soon as possible, you will receive another e-mail message from the UCS e-mail account. This e-mail message will provide you with possible options for your weekly appointment time and the name of the counselor with whom you will be working. You will be asked to reply to the message in order to confirm that this information is acceptable to you within a specified amount of time so please check your e-mail regularly and reply back as soon as possible. Our goal is to find a standing time each week for you and your counselor to meet.
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Who will be my counselor?
Ideally, we try to have the person who conducts your intake become your ongoing counselor. However, due to 1) the limitations of your schedule, 2) the limitations of the schedules of the counselors, and 3) the desire to keep caseloads of the counselors balanced, this is not always the case. In most cases, schedules dictate who will be your counselor. Please know that every counselor at UCS is a licensed professional counselor or psychologist who has focused his/her career on helping college students with their mental health issues. If you specified a preference for working with a specific counselor, we will always try to do our best to accommodate this request but, during times of high-service demand, this may mean a much longer waiting period for you to begin counseling.
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Will the counselor I am assigned to work with always be my counselor?
Most likely, yes. The only reasons that would necessitate you meeting with a different counselor would be you requesting a change in counselor or if you were in a crisis and needed to meet with someone and your regular counselor was unavailable.
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Who are the staff at UCS and what are their credentials?
UCS consists of licensed professional counselors and psychologists. For more information on the staff please visit: UCS Staff.
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I was told that information at UCS is kept confidential. What does this really mean?
All interactions with UCS, including scheduling of or attendance at appointments, content of your sessions, progress in counseling, and your records are not shared with anyone outside of UCS (including parents, faculty and staff members) and are electronically stored securely at UCS. No record of counseling is contained in any academic, educational, or job placement file. The only exceptions to maintaining confidentiality are if 1) there is clear and imminent danger to self and/or others, 2) we strongly suspect physical abuse, sexual abuse and/or neglect of a minor or incapacitated adult, or 3) we are issued a court order by a judge and are required by law to testify in a court hearing. In addition, you may request in writing that UCS release specific information about your counseling to people and/or agencies you designate.
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What if I need help before my first appointment or for that matter after I start counseling?
You are welcome to contact UCS at any time if you would like to speak with a counselor or if you have any concerns. You are welcome to send an e-mail to ucs@truman.edu if you have a general question or concern, you may contact your counselor directly at his/her email address or you may contact our office via telephone at 660-785-4014 (x4014 on-campus). If you are in severe emotional distress, a counselor is on-call 24/7 and can be reached by contacting the Police Dispatcher at 660-665-5621 and asking to speak with a Truman counselor.
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What if I am not sure if counseling is for me?
This is not an unusual thought. For many people, talking to someone you don’t know and sharing things that you may have not shared with other people is often a very awkward thing. We have found throughout the years at UCS that the desire to get away from these situations occurs more in the beginning of counseling. Then, after a few sessions, the awkwardness goes away and coming to counseling gets easier (and most people start to feel better too). But we will add that counseling is a voluntary process and is your choice. If you believe that counseling is not right for you or if the timing is not best, you may discontinue counseling at any time (and you may always come back to UCS at another time) but we would appreciate being informed that you are finished so other students may utilize your appointment time.
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How will regular counseling be different from the intake appointment I just had?
The intake appointment is designed to be an information gathering session and is focused on collecting a great deal of information as quickly and completely as we can to ensure the services we offer at UCS will best assist you in achieving your goals. Regular counseling sessions tend to be more in-depth and are designed to assist you in achieving the goals you have set for counseling.
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I was told that there was a waitlist. How long will I have to wait?
Unfortunately, due to high demand for our services, we may have a waitlist. We will do our very best to make sure that anyone put on the waitlist is assigned for a regular counselor as soon as possible. It’s impossible to provide you with an exact amount of time for the wait but historically, we have been able to assign people from our waitlist within 2 weeks of their intake even at the busiest times. If the wait will be longer, your intake counselor will be in contact with you.
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I have never been in counseling before. What is the normal process of counseling?
Counseling typically consists of meeting with your counselor for 50 minutes once each week. We highly prefer to meet at the same time and day every week to build continuity into our respective schedules. A good analogy is that counseling is similar to a one credit class except you are the only one in the class (except in group), there is no set syllabus, the class is about you and most of the hard work is done out of class/session.
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How long will I be in counseling?
While we cannot provide you with an exact amount of time that it will take for you to complete counseling/feel better, it is worth noting that the average client at UCS during 2006-07 met for 5.17 sessions (not including intake) and almost 80% of our clients met for 10 sessions or less.
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The Intake counselor discussed group counseling with me and thought I would benefit from it. What is group counseling?
If the intake counselor talked to you about group, then he/she believed that group would be an effective treatment for you based upon the issues with which you presented. For more specific information about group counseling please visit: Group Information.
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How do I switch counselors?
If you are assigned to work with someone that you are uncomfortable with or do not like, the first thing we suggest for you is to discuss it with your counselor directly. All of the counselors at UCS are very comfortable with this type of discussion and understand that the main focus of our work is to help you achieve your goals. If we are interfering with this progress, we don’t mind stepping aside and letting you work with someone else. Most of the time we find that the discomfort you are experiencing can be resolved by having thoughtful conversations in session and trying different things. If this does not work, please contact UCS and let us know you want to switch. We will schedule a time for you to speak with the Director or Assistant Director to help us determine why the switch is in your best interest and to make sure that we are able to assign you with another counselor who will best match up with your needs.
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What should I do if I did not share important information during my intake appointment?
It is not unusual that you may have left out some details during your first appointment. If you believe that it is something very important, please be sure that you bring it up during one of your first sessions with your counselor.
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What is expected of me as a client at UCS?
This is your life and you have come in to counseling on a voluntary basis so we expect you to be committed as an active member of the counseling process and be willing to challenge yourself to achieve your goals. We also expect that you will be on time or let us know as far in advance as possible that you will not be able to attend. Because of the high demand for our services, if you miss an appointment and do not let us know about your status we will assume you are no longer interested in continuing counseling at this time and your file will be inactivated and your standing appointment time will be give to another client.
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What should I expect of my counselor at UCS?
You should expect that your counselor will be professional and maintain all legal and ethical requirements of his/her profession. Counseling is not always easy because there may be periods where your counselor will need to challenge the thoughts, feelings and behaviors that have led you to be dissatisfied with your current situation. This may seem unpleasant at times but you will always be treated with respect and your counselor should be able to explain why you are going through this process and how it may assist you in reaching your goals.
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I am a person that likes to read specific information on topics of interest to me. Does UCS have books that I may check out?
An excellent on-line resource is a collection of works by a wide variety of counseling centers around the nation. You may review this collection by visiting: The Unabridged Student Counseling Virtual Pamphlet Collection. UCS also has a large collection of self-help books that are available for our clients to check out for 2 weeks at a time. To view our book collection, please visit: Self-Help Library Books.
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I was referred for a psychiatric evaluation with a medical provider. Why was this done?
The counselor who conducted your intake most likely determined that some of your presenting concerns would best be treated by a combination of medication and talk therapy. For more information about a psychiatric evaluation, please visit: Psychiatric Evaluation
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Will I need to fill out paperwork when I attend my ongoing counseling sessions?
The paperwork you completed before your intake appointment will not need to be filled out each time you visit UCS. We will ask you to complete a brief assessment prior to each weekly individual counseling session entitled the Outcomes Questionnaire (OQ). The OQ is a 30 question assessment that typically takes 5 minutes to complete and helps us quickly assess your feelings, thoughts and behaviors during the past week. The best analogy we use for the OQ is that it is comparable to taking your temperature when you visit a medical doctor. It allows us to understand in a very general way how you are doing and provides us with some indication if you are doing better, worse or the same that week in comparison to prior weeks.
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I signed a pink form that reviewed a lot of legal information. Can I get a copy of that?
Yes. A pdf version of the form can be found by visiting: UCS Forms. The form is titled “Client Informed Consent”.
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What should I do if I have a question that is not asked/answered here?
Ask. Your counselor should be able to answer any question you may have when you meet but you are also welcome to send us an e-mail (ucs@truman.edu) or call our office (660-785-4014) if you desire a more immediate response.