APPOINTMENTS AND SERVICES
The Counseling Center offers individual personal counseling, led discussion groups and educational programs.
Many students make use of counseling to assist them with their personal development. The counseling process helps students learn more about themselves, identify coping strategies, and emerge with enhanced self-confidence.
APPOINTMENTS
All services are free of charge to current students.
In-person, individual counseling services are available on-campus to all students, graduate and undergraduate. Telehealth appointments may be available on a limited basis with the caveat that clients must be physically located in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania under Pennsylvania law.
You may schedule an appointment in any of three ways:
- Call 610-519-4050 weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
- Stop by the Counseling Center at our physical location on the Villanova University campus (206 Health Services Building).
- Submit the below form to receive a call from the Counseling Center to schedule your appointment.
You will be offered an appointment time that works with your class schedule. Appointments are usually available within a week of your request.
Most students using the Center are free of any mental illness. Our staff is experienced in supporting students through the normal developmental challenges of their current life stage. The Center is well used by student leaders and academically talented students.
For students who encounter a more difficult condition such as depression, anxiety, panic, or disordered eating, the staff is also experienced in diagnosis, crisis intervention, and brief treatment of these conditions. However, because the Center is able to provide only short-term counseling, students needing counseling with these more serious conditions will be referred to practitioners off-campus. The Counseling Center will help facilitate the referral.
All contacts with the Counseling Center are confidential, except in situations where laws or ethics require notification of a family member.
The Counseling Center does not release any information regarding whether a student has used our services nor matters discussed in counseling. Except under certain specific circumstances, no parent, dean, faculty member, or other students can get access to information about you without your permission. Here are the exceptions:
- If the psychologist believes that there is a danger to self or others, safety considerations will prevail, and the psychologist will notify appropriate family members or other authorities. Such disclosure is for the purpose of providing the necessary care and protection of the student.
- Our staff members are required by Pennsylvania law to report suspected child abuse.
- In very rare circumstances, the court may order the release of confidential information. If you would like information disclosed to a specific person, please discuss this with your psychologist, who will help you think through what is in your best interest, and proceed accordingly.
In order to provide the best quality care, counselors may consult with each other about your concerns and about the work we do with you.
OUR SERVICES
The Counseling Center offers short-term counseling. Our psychologists provide counseling for students who are experiencing developmental issues where short-term counseling is clinically appropriate. For students whose mental health conditions call for long-term counseling, our psychologists assist students in identifying an off-campus provider, where counseling is not time-limited.
Counseling is completely confidential, and students are assured they will have privacy. Professors, deans and parents are not notified that a student is receiving counseling unless a student requests such contact and signs a release permitting it. The exception is when a student poses a risk to themself or others.
Typical Concerns of Students In Personal Counseling
- Confusion, anxiety, or depression
- Mood variability
- Needing help with an important decision
- Loneliness
- Adjusting to living away from parents
- Friendship problems
- Romantic concerns
- Family concerns–including parental divorce
- Compulsive eating
- Self-destructive use of alcohol or drugs
- Loss of a relationship
- Balancing academics and social needs
- Shyness
- Illness or death of a friend or family member
- Personal trauma such as sexual assault
- Illness or death of a friend or family member
Student Discussion Groups are a place to talk, listen to and support each other in a safe, confidential environment.
All groups will be held confidentially with a licensed counselor from the Counseling Center.
On-Campus Student Emergencies
If a student is in urgent need of counseling, we provide help as soon as possible. On weekdays, students may call or stop by the Student Health Center and tell the Administrative Assistant of the urgency of their needs. After hours and weekends, students may go to:
- Their RA
- Student Health Center
- Public Safety
All of these agencies can either directly help the student or connect the student with appropriate resources. If a student has a life-threatening emergency, they should be taken to the nearest Emergency Room, usually Bryn Mawr Hospital.
Resources for Non-Students or Students Away from Campus
Students sometimes seek help for non-Villanova visitors, for family members or friends in other parts of the country. Below you will find links to websites through which you can locate services elsewhere. A person in crisis can go to the nearest hospital for emergency care or referral to an appropriate setting.
SUICIDE PREVENTION HOTLINE
1-800-273-TALK – for anyone at anytime
NATIONAL MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES LOCATOR
CHESTER COUNTY, PA, MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES
610-280-3270
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA, MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES
Montgomery County Emergency Services Mental Health Crisis Hotline: 610-279-6100
DELAWARE COUNTY, PA, MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES
Delaware County Crisis Connections Team
855-889-7827
PHILADELPHIA COUNTY MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES
215-686-4420, 24-hour hotline for Philadelphia residents
Some students experience more difficult psychological challenges that are not typical of the normal developmental process. Students who need to be seen more than once a week, need to be seen for more than a semester, or in any other way need services beyond the scope of the Counseling Center will be assisted in finding a practitioner in the community who can best meet their needs.
Psychologists are available to parents, students, faculty, and administrators who are concerned about another person’s psychological wellbeing. Confidentiality and privacy prevent our psychologists from discussing a student we have seen in counseling unless we have the student’s permission. However, by hearing a description of the conditions that have caused concern, and by asking you a series of questions, we can get a good sense of the severity of the situation and help you determine the best course of action.
Educational programs are offered on topics such as adjusting to college, forming trusting relationships, recognizing and handling depression, helping an eating-disordered friend, and avoiding sexual assault. If you wish to request an educational program for a specific group of students, faculty, or staff, please email Director Nathalie Edmond, Psy.D., stating the topic, audience, and a few proposed dates and times. We present educational programs in academic classrooms, campus symposia, residence halls, sororities and fraternities, and many other forums.
Villanova University offers QPR Training – Question, Persuade, Refer. QPR is a Suicide Prevention Tool that anyone can learn and use. Just like CPR, QPR is an emergency response to someone in crisis and can save lives. QPR is the most widely taught Gatekeeper Training in the world.
Villanova has many trainers available to provide a 60- to 90-minute QPR training for you or your department or group of staff and/or students.
ARE YOU
FEELING
ANXIOUS?
NOT FEELING
YOURSELF?
HELP IS
A CALL AWAY.
Contact the Counseling Center at 610-519-4050 to schedule an appointment.
EMERGENCY CONTACTS
In an emergency, call Villanova Public Safety at 610-519-4444.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Call 988.