Services
PNW’s Counseling Center provides free and confidential mental health services to currently enrolled students, including counseling, outreach, consultation and psychological assessment/testing.
In This Section
Personal Counseling
Through a confidential intake assessment and brief psychotherapy, a student is supported in identifying and addressing personal concerns that interfere with productive emotional functioning and academic success.
Crisis intervention is focused on helping distressed students return to effective use of coping skills to best manage intense, immediate stress that may have formulated in their daily routine and is causing a major distraction to proper mental functioning.
Brief counseling in psychotherapy promotes student development and academic progress by broadening coping efforts, improving relationship functioning and heightening self-understanding. Students may be referred to qualified professionals in the community for medication evaluation and long-term therapy.
In the client-counselor relationship, students share feelings, worries, perceptions and experiences. Students are encouraged to discuss any problems that may interfere with attaining personal fulfillment or achieving academic success.
- family
- marital/relationship problems
- academic concerns
- grief
- incest/abuse
- eating disorders
- stress
- loneliness
- depression
- drug or alcohol abuse
- poor self-image
Psychological Assessment/Testing
The counseling center provides comprehensive psychological assessments to students with cognitive complaints that have been referred by a clinician (e.g., therapist) or a representative from the PNW Accessibility Center (PAC).
Common concerns that warrant such an assessment include but are not limited to updated documentation for accommodations, a history of neurodevelopmental disorder (e.g., ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder), specific learning disorder (e.g., math, reading), possible neurocognitive disorder (e.g., secondary to a blow to the head, stroke, etc.) and perceived deficits in executive function and processing speed more generally.
The assessment process typically requires two three-hour sessions that are used to write a psychological testing report. A subsequent feedback session regarding test performances focuses on the interpretation of the assessment results more generally and treatment recommendations. Also, an official report will be sent to the PAC to validate that the student meets the criteria for the accommodations provided. Additional copies may also be sent to other providers (who provide treatment) with a signed consent form with a specific recipient named and stated purpose of its use.
Outreach and Mental Health Screenings
The Counseling Center provides outreach presentations to freshman orientations, freshman year experience, student organizations, residential life and academic departments. The Counseling Center also provides, during the course of the semester, mental health screenings, available online from MindWise Innovations.
Faculty and Staff Consultative Services
The Counseling Center provides consultative services to faculty and staff. We are also available to present a range of workshop presentations to classes. Please email counsel@pnw.edu to request a workshop presentation.
Workshop Topics
Attendees will be able to describe active listening skills, understand how to be respectful and direct in one’s communication style and learn how to problem solve with flexibility.
Attendees will learn about how to engage and ask for assistance from others during times of need. Attendees will also learn how to recognize the problem and learn ways to cope with various stressors (i.e. sadness, feeling down, low energy, illness, death of a loved one, unemployment, financial problems, etc.).
Attendees will learn about the free and confidential PNW Counseling Center. This presentation includes information about the services the Counseling Center offers, reasons that students may seek counseling and how to make an appointment in the Counseling Center.
Attendees learn about the different types of stress and the importance of setting limits (boundaries). Additionally, they will learn how to examine their choices to create balance in their lives.
Attendees will learn how to adjust and adapt to the new college culture and ways to manage stress. Additionally, attendees will learn about how to begin exploring their career and tips on how to be successful in life.
Attendees will be able to define stress and anxiety, learn about the effects stress has one’s body and mind and learn about the sources of stress. How to healthfully respond to stress will also be discussed.
Attendees will learn about characteristics of healthy relationships, boundaries, individual personal responsibilities and effective communication skills.
Attendees will learn how to normalize anxiety as a common and sometimes helpful aspect of test taking. They will learn how to increase their awareness of the factors that contribute to test anxiety. Attendees will also learn useful studying and test-taking strategies to aid them in reducing their test anxiety.
Attendees will learn about changes and reactions to college life during this time of major transition. Additionally, attendees will learn how to balance increased responsibilities and potential loneliness that may occur.