As a currently enrolled student at Pasadena City College, you are eligible to use Personal Counseling. Once you make an appointment to talk with someone from our counseling psychology staff, here's what you can expect.

For many students, it's a new experience to discuss difficult personal matters with a psychologist. Often students begin by saying, "I'm not sure where to start..." or, "This feels awkward..." Before you begin, here are several things to consider.

In the past, you may have been able to handle the pressures of college, work, and personal life alone. You may have even tried discussing situations with friends, relatives, or others. Sometimes, these people care so much about your well-being that they become over-involved in the situation and lose their ability to give an objective viewpoint. The counseling psychology staff may offer a different perspective, and may help you develop new strategies and solutions. How is this done?

By discussing the topics of concern, you will be helped to clarify:

• the nature and extent of the problem with specific details
• why it's a problem for you now
• how it interferes with your life and progress at PCC
• how you've tried to deal with it
• what has been successful and what hasn't
• some alternatives acceptable to you
• goals for behavioral and situational changes

When you have outlined a concrete plan of action, you may be assigned specific activities to improve your problem-solving skills and to strengthen your confidence. Your progress toward your self-defined goals usually is hastened by following the recommended activities between your appointments. We will monitor your progress and you may need to make changes to tailor your work for specific situations. This is important because Personal Counseling is limited to short-term consultations on specific problems. In some situations, the problem presented may require more specialized or extended services than can be provided by the College. If this is your situation, you will be given assistance in locating the proper professional.

It is important for you to keep your appointments. If you are unable to keep an appointment, kindly give us 24 hours notice. Due to the large volume of students we see, it may not be possible to reschedule you as soon as you would like. One "no show" will result in you having to use our walk-in times exclusively for the remainder of the semester. If you are 20 minutes late for an appointment, we reserve the right to take another student during your time. That appointment will count as a "no show."

We use a team approach as our service delivery system. We have pre-doctoral and post-doctoral psychology interns. Because they are in training, they may discuss your case with their supervisor. Please be assured that all information is confidential and will not be released or discussed with anyone, including faculty and staff, without your written permission. However, by law there are conditions under which disclosure is required: you intend to do serious harm to yourself or another person, or there is suspected child, dependent adult, or elder abuse, or pursuant to a court order.

If you have any questions about the nature and extent of Personal Counseling provided at PCC, you may discuss these at any time with your therapist. If you feel that you are not receiving proper or appropriate care, please contact Dr. Andrea Bailey, Lead Psychologist. We strive to assure that each student is treated according to the highest ethical and professional standards.

If you receive psychological testing, we will provide you with a verbal summary or written report promptly after we complete the testing and review the results with a supervisor. According to the ethical provisions of our profession, we are the custodian of the records and cannot release copies or the original raw data to you or a third party not adequately trained in the practice of psychology.