Policies

Our Mission Statement

In the belief that a student’s intellectual and personal development are inseparable, the Counseling Center strives to affirm and support the holistic development of students. We provide psychological services to engage with students in addressing their personal, emotional, social, academic and relational concerns. We collaborate with the wider community in providing teaching, outreach, and consultation services that enhance the ability of students to reach their full potential as persons.

Practice Guidelines

All students will normally be offered 12 sessions of therapy per year
Students who miss a scheduled appointment and do not reschedule within five business days, or who miss two scheduled appointments in a row are assumed to no longer be interested in services and will have counseling automatically terminated
Cancellations of scheduled appointments may count toward the 12 session limit
Students referred to off-campus resources will be provided with transitional services

Triage Policy

In times of high demand for services and case loads for therapists are at capacity, students may not be able to get an appointment for ongoing counseling in a timely fashion. Should this occur, the Counseling Center will set aside time to offer students an appointment for a triage session.

Triage sessions will be used to make a quick assessment of the student’s presenting issues and help the student think through problems solving strategies and put coping strategies in place.

The student will be provided with appropriate referrals to on-campus or off-campus resources and/or the student will be offered the next available opening.

The triage policy is not intended for, nor does it replace, crisis response. Crisis is defined as a student who has active suicidal ideation and who is feeling unsafe and/or a student who has been sexually assaulted within the last 72 hours. The Counseling Center will continue to make time to respond to emergencies as they arise.

Referral Guidelines

The Counseling Center is committed to maintaining an appropriate balance between meeting the needs of individual students and the needs of the college community as a whole. Given the demand for clinical services, the nature of the college calendar and limits to the specialized care we may be able to provide, the Counseling Center will normally offer students a limited number of individual therapy sessions. At the same time, we recognize that an individual student’s needs or the needs of the college may demand that we be flexible in the nature and amount of clinical services that we provide.

The purpose of the referral procedures and guidelines is to

Provide guidance, ensure consistency of clinical practice and hold Counseling Center staff accountable in balancing the needs of the community with the needs of the individual student
Enable clear communication of clinical practice to the larger college community
Provide a record of accepted practice for new staff and interns

Client Bill of Rights

As a consumer of psychological services offered by mental health therapists licensed by the state of Minnesota, you have the right:

To expect that a mental health therapist has met the minimal qualifications of training and experience required by state law;
To examine public records maintained by the board of psychology, which contain the credentials of a mental health therapist;
To obtain a copy of the rules of conduct from the State Register and Public Documents Division, Department of Administration, 117 University Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55155;
To report complaints to the Board of Psychology, 2700 University Avenue West, Suite 101, Saint Paul, MN 55114
To be informed of the cost of professional services before receiving the services;
To be provided with a non-technical explanation about the nature and purpose of the psychological procedures to be used in your treatment, upon request
To be free from being the object of discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender, or other unlawful category while receiving psychological services;
To be free from exploitation for the benefit or advantage of the mental health therapist;
To privacy as defined by rule and law;
To have access to your records as provided in Minnesota Statutes section 144.291 to 144.298, except as otherwise provided by law or prior written agreement

Upon request, the mental health therapist will supply complete and current information in non-technical language about your diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis
Upon written request, the mental health therapist will promptly furnish copies of your records or, with your consent, a summary of the record
If the mental health therapist reasonably determines that the information you have requested would be detrimental to your physical and mental health, the mental health therapist may withhold that information from you and supply it instead to an appropriate third party or other treatment provider. That third party or treatment provider may release the information to you.
The mental health therapist may also withhold information that you have requested if prior to your request that therapist has defined and described a specific basis for withholding that information

To be informed about disclosures of your private records that may be made without your written consent. Your information shared with the mental health therapist will be kept confidential unless you are in imminent risk of hurting yourself, you are in imminent risk of hurting another person, you know of minors or vulnerable adults who are being hurt or neglected, or you are a woman who is pregnant and using certain classes of illicit drugs. In those situations, appropriate emergency or health care personnel will be contacted in order to address those safety issues. If you have been exploited or abused by a previous psychological treatment provider, that provider’s licensing board will be contacted. Additionally, if a subpoena is issued and requires that a copy of your counseling records be turned over, the mental health therapist will be required to provide a copy of your records to comply with the court order
To terminate services at any time, except as otherwise provided by law or court order

If you have concerns about the services you have been provided, you may also choose to file a complaint to your counselor’s supervisor. Overseeing the Counseling Center is Stephen Bennett, 507-933-7526, 800 West College Avenue St. Peter, MN 56082