Counseling Services

What to Expect

Counseling Services is the University’s provider of mental healthcare. As a student fee-funded unit, we have a responsibility to serve all enrolled students. As such, it is important that we use a model of care that enables us to serve the greater than 13,000 students currently enrolled at SIUE. We currently operate using a brief (e.g., 50-minute hour, biweekly appointments, by-the-SMART goal approach), clinically-responsible model of psychotherapy. To make an appointment, call 618-650-2842 or walk-in to SSC Suite 0222 to speak with our team of schedulers.  For additional information, click HERE.

• Your first clinical point of contact will be an Initial Assessment, where you can voice your concerns.
• From there, a determination will be made about which of our services will offer the best support in the shortest time frame.
• During the Initial Assessment, an information-gathering appointment often referred to as an “intake,” a decision will be made about which of the available treatment options is most appropriate, given the presenting concerns, client preferences and economic circumstances, and previously mentioned notions of “responsible care.” 
• This will primarily include the following:
  • Life Skills
  • Group Therapy
  • Individual Therapy (Talk-Based)
  • Individual Therapy (Art-Based)*
  • Referral
• Our philosophy of care, which includes scope of practice, was developed per ethical guidelines and best practices consistent across college counseling centers to offer most responsible care on a short-term basis.
• If, based on existing criteria for off-campus referral, you would be better served by establishing long-term care in the community, we will support your successful referral to a provider in the community. Decisions to refer are typically made at time of Initial Assessment where discrete criteria will be reviewed. Examples of situations in which referral is appropriate include:
  • The client requires inpatient or residential care due to the acuteness and severity of the presenting concern(s)

  • The client requires sessions to occur more frequently than our biweekly standard (e.g., weekly or multiple times/week)

  • The presenting concern has not previously responded well to talk-based, insight-oriented approaches to psychological recovery

  • The presenting concern requires multi-provider and/or specialist care 

• By operating in this manner, we create a structure in which we can serve those currently in our system as well as those who desire psychological care.

What is Art Therapy*

• Art Therapy is an integrative mental health and human services profession that enriches the lives of individuals, families, and communities through active art-making, creative process, applied psychological theory, and human experience within a psychotherapeutic relationship.

  Art Therapy, facilitated by a professional art therapist, effectively supports personal and relational treatment goals as well as community concerns. Art Therapy is used to improve cognitive and sensory-motor functions, foster self-esteem and self-awareness, cultivate emotional resilience, promote insight, enhance social skills, reduce and resolve conflicts and distress, and advance societal and ecological change 

• Through integrative methods, art therapy engages the mind, body, and spirit in ways that are distinct from verbal articulation alone. Kinesthetic, sensory, perceptual, and symbolic opportunities invite alternative modes of receptive and expressive communication, which can circumvent the limitations of language. Visual and symbolic expression gives voice to experience and empowers individual, communal, and societal transformation. 

• Using art materials in the therapeutic setting is different than using “art as therapy” when someone may engage in art expression on their own for self-care or wellness, as a hobby, for personal or professional expression, or another intention.  When used in therapy, art materials can assist in achieving goals differently than verbal expression because:

  • Visual expression can bring different meaning than verbal expression, especially for visual learners
  • Art provides a flexible and unique way of expression that can include creativity and the generation of original ideas, thoughts, and feelings
  • Many people experience art-making as pleasurable and a source of healing
  • Art can facilitate spatial expression and something “tangible”
  • Negative and/or undesired ideas and feelings can be conveyed through the art

(Sources: American Art Therapy Association & University of Northern Florida Counseling Center)