Counseling Services

ACU Counseling Center for Students, Faculty, and Staff

College can be an exciting time of life, but it can also be a stressful experience. Counseling services are available in a confidential therapeutic setting conveniently located on campus. As a current student, faculty, or staff member of ACU you are eligible for up to 8 free counseling sessions per academic year.

If interested contact [email protected]. Services available include:

Individuals

Individuals seek counseling for many reasons, including depression, low self-esteem, grief, emotion management, life transitions, and personal growth. If you are a student-athlete, additional stressors may include competition anxiety, balancing the demands of athletics and academics, and mental health challenges stemming from injuries or facing performance difficulties. ACU counselors are available to support you if you are experiencing a crisis, want to develop more efficient coping skills, or are simply interested in personal growth.

Families

Family counseling involves the student, staff or faculty member and one or more members of their family. This could include one or both parents of a student, children, siblings or anyone else in your family dynamics. The counselor will observe the relationships, interactions and communication patterns between members of the family and engage everyone in the therapeutic process. With the help of a counselor, families can learn how to communicate more effectively and create a safe space for problem solving.

Dating, Engaged or Married Couples

Couples counseling provides a safe space to be heard and work through challenging situations.

Whether you are already engaged or are considering marriage—discussing boundaries, extended family, careers, spirituality, child-rearing, and intimacy prior to marriage can help a couple navigate the future. Exploring strengths you possess as a couple and areas that may cause conflict in the future, will help establish a realistic framework for marriage.

Married couples seek counseling for a wide area of concerns including how to communicate more effectively, work on emotional roadblocks (including trust and intimacy), parenting, and increase in self-awareness and personal growth.

Other Challenging Relationships

If this is your first experience living away from home you may be having conflict with a roommate, teammate or trying to navigate new friendships. Seeking counseling with one of your peers can help to work through boundary issues or conflict with a counselor who is able to remain neutral and assist with problem solving.

Group Counseling

ACU Counseling Center provides a wide range of support for groups of students. Although it can be intimidating to discuss sensitive topics within a group setting, the benefits of gaining support from others and realizing that your struggles are probably more common than you think, is extremely helpful. Group therapy sessions vary per semester but may include topics such as: Intimacy and Relationships, Stress Management, Setting Boundaries, and Effective Communication Skills.

Facts and Important Information

The ACU Counseling Center is staffed with graduate level interns. Counselors are currently enrolled in accredited graduate programs in counseling, marriage and family therapy, or other related behavioral health fields. Counseling interns serve under the supervision of a state-licensed professional mental health clinician. The Clinic Director is a licensed marriage and family therapist who has completed specialized training in clinical supervision. All intern counselors and supervisors have agreed to ACU Standards of Faith.

How to Make an Appointment

Initial appointments are made by emailing [email protected].

You should expect to receive a response to emails within 24 hours (exceptions may occur on weekends or holidays).

Paperwork

After scheduling your first appointment, each person who will attend a therapy session will be emailed a secure link to set-up a client profile and complete all required intake forms and consents.

Location of the Counseling Center

ACU Counseling Center for students, faculty, and staff is located at the back of the Student Development building (#2300). Once you enter Student Development go down the hallway that leads to the restrooms. The counseling center is straight ahead.

If the building is locked you can attempt to email your counselor or call Campus Safety at (602) 489-5301.

Your First Appointment

When you arrive for your first appointment please have a seat in the lobby. Your counselor may be in a current appointment or on a quick break and may not be able to immediately acknowledge you. Once your counselor is ready for your appointment you will be brought into one of the private offices. The counselor will review your intake forms (you will receive a link to complete the forms online prior to your appointment) and your desire to start counseling. Within the first couple of visits, goals will be developed that you and would like to accomplish while in therapy.

At first it may be difficult to talk about the past or something that is currently causing you distress. You may begin to feel emotions such as anger, sadness, or shame during your session. Your counselor is there to help you work through these emotions and develop coping skills to process your feelings.

All appointments are 50 minutes in length.

Crisis Hotlines

The hotlines are available for use by anyone who is experiencing a mental health crisis. *Do not hesitate to call 911 in case of an emergency.

Maricopa County Crisis Intervention Hotline – (602) 222-9444

EMPACT Suicide Prevention, Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence – (480) 784-1500

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline – Call, text or chat available by dialing 988 or visiting 988lifeline.org

211 AZ Crisis Referral Resource  (shelter, transportation, food) – Dial 211

National Alliance for Eating Disorders  – (866) 662-1235