Services

Let's Talk

Counselors from the Whitworth Counseling Center will be available across campus throughout the week for informal consultations. This is an alternative to the traditional 50-minute therapy session but is not a substitute for therapy. It is a drop-in service where students can have a brief and informal one-on-one conversation with a counselor from time to time. For more information and to view times and locations, please see the Let's Talk page.

Individual Counseling

Whatever your concerns, a confidential conversation with a counselor in the counseling center can be beneficial. A counselor can help you sort out your situation, your feelings, your options, and resources that might be of help to you. If the support you need is not available on campus, a counselor can help you locate and connect with resources off campus.

Students seek counseling for a wide variety of concerns. For example, you may be uneasy about relationships with family, friends, roommates or other important people in your life; sex, sexual identity or sexual orientation; feelings of anxiety or panic; life decisions or direction; feelings of depression or hopelessness or thoughts of suicide; eating, weight or body image; drug or alcohol use; performance or creative blocks; achievement and motivation; self-esteem; adjusting to college; adjusting to a new language or culture; coping with a psychological or physical illness or disability; or coping with traumatic events or memories.

The role of the counseling center is to provide short-term, time-limited counseling (a maximum of 10 individual sessions per academic year), in order to offer services to as many students as possible. In keeping with the mission of the division of student life, the counseling center strives to provide brief treatment to facilitate adjustment, improve functioning, achieve resolution of problems, and relieve acute symptoms as soon as possible.

Our services are available to eligible students whose concerns fall within our scope of practice. Those whose needs cannot be accommodated within our short-term treatment model will be referred to community resources for care. Such referrals could be given immediately following an intake, or they could be offered after some treatment and a further assessment of need has taken place. The center's counseling staff will assist the student in locating private referral sources in the community that match his or her need.

If you have begun counseling or psychiatric treatment at home or while away from campus, you may want to arrange continuing treatment now that you are here. At your request, the counseling center can help you get connected with an off-campus counselor who may meet your counseling and treatment needs more effectively.

Counseling is confidential and is protected by law and by ethical standards.

Group Counseling

Group counseling can provide you with needed support, increase your ability to cope with life's challenges, and help you grow as a person. All groups are free and confidential, and each is facilitated by a counselor. The number of group-counseling sessions is unlimited per student, as appropriate.

Groups typically meet in the counseling center in order to provide a confidential setting. In addition, all group members are asked to comply with a confidentiality policy stating that what is said and what occurs among members of the group stays within the group, even after the group has ended. This includes keeping the names of other members of the group confidential.

Chemical Dependency Assessment and Referral

Counselors from the Whitworth Counseling Center are available for assessment of concerns around substance use/misuse. A referral to off-campus resources will be provided, if indicated. 

Light Therapy Lending Program

The counseling center has a limited light therapy lamp lending program. Light therapy is appropriate for those who experience persistent low mood during the fall and winter months. A light therapy lamp mimics outdoor light. It is thought that this type of light may cause a chemical change in the brain that lifts your mood and eases other symptoms of seasonally related depression, such as being tired most of the time and sleeping too much. Treatment is usually most effective when implemented upon waking at the same time every day for 20-30 minutes. Best results are achieved when used together with counseling.

If you would like to check out a light therapy lamp for the winter months, please contact counseling services at 509.777.3259, ext. 2. A lending agreement must be signed at time of checkout. Students must return the lamp at the end of the winter months (late March, early April) or a charge will be placed on their student account.