Welcome Parents to the Counseling & Wellness Center!
Parents are understandably concerned when their child is not doing well academically, emotionally or socially. While the Counseling and Wellness Center cannot, of course, talk with parents about their child who may be in treatment in the Center, we can offer some general help about coping with the problems college students face. Many of the difficulties that we see include general adjustment issues with anxiety and/or depression and homesickness. The Counseling and Wellness Center also sees many students with social phobias, relationship problems, academic problems, alcohol and substance abuse, as well as more serious problems such as depression, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and many others.
We offer a strictly confidential service so that students will feel free to come to us with many different types of problems. We do not make any information available to anyone else, at the College or elsewhere, without a signed release from the student. Students and parents may be assured that even the fact that a student is being seen in the Center is not conveyed to parents, deans, faculty members or others without consent. The following questions and answers may be helpful as you explore whether or not it may be helpful to contact us regarding your child.
While we cannot discuss specific individuals without explicit written consent, the staff is available to answer your general questions and to talk about your concerns. Please feel free to call us at 860-297-2415.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Counseling and Wellness Center offers a full range of counseling and psychological services to all students coping with personal, emotional difficulties and social relationship issues. We can provide help with stress management, social adjustment issues, anxiety, eating disorders, depression, alcohol and drug abuse, identity issues, and grief and anger management.
The services of the Center, except psychiatric medication consultations which are charged to student insurance, are free of charge to enrolled Trinity students. If prescription medication is needed, it may also be covered by the student health plan and/or coverage through a parent’s policy.
The center is staffed by two doctoral-level mental health professionals (Ph.D. or Psy.D.), four licensed clinical social workers, a consulting psychiatric APRN, and our office manager who schedules appointments.
Appointments are available by calling the Center at 860-297-2415 or by emailing [email protected].
Regular counseling appointments are first come first serve. One-time emergency appointments are available for immediate service if a student is expressing urgency. A student may be held on the waitlist longer if there are time constraints or a specific preference on a therapist.
The services of the Center are privileged and strictly confidential as provided by federal and state law. That means that we do not provide information to anyone other than the individual who is in treatment, unless the student has signed a release giving us permission to reveal information to another source. Our records are not a part of the student’s school or medical record. This means that if you want to know if your child is coming to the Center or if anyone else on campus wants to know, we will not be able to reveal this information without written permission from the student. We reserve the right and responsibility to use clinical judgment in determining if someone is in imminent danger of causing harm to self or others, which means that we do not need written permission to act appropriately to protect in these circumstances.
We usually find that if you have expressed concern to your child and want to know if they are seeing someone you can easily ask them directly. The degree to which they are willing to share information about how they are doing with their therapy is entirely up to each individual. We want students to feel comfortable sharing information with us knowing that we will not disclose it without their written permission.
Your child’s therapist may listen to information, however, unless you allow us to share with the student that you have given this information, its usefulness may be quite limited. Sometimes it is helpful for you to talk about your concerns with another staff member who is not directly involved with your child to maintain a more neutral stance and to insure that the student feels that confidentiality has been fully protected.
The Counseling and Wellness Center does not handle stimulant medication for learning disabilities. However, the Health Center may do so in specific cases with coordination with the student’s home medication provider. For more information about medication for learning disorders, contact Martha O’Brien, APRN, Director of the Health Center, at 860-297-2018.
The Counseling and Wellness Center provides individual assessment and follow-up treatment for all mental health issues. Our medication consultant is available for medication management for all cases that are being actively followed by one of our individual psychotherapists. Providing us with information from the treating doctor or therapist at home will help facilitate a smooth transition and avoid duplication of services. Again, we are not able to provide a medication-only service.
The staff is trained to help evaluate the appropriate treatment needs of those seeking our services and referrals for more extensive treatment are available off campus. Appropriate recommendations can be made for which students will need to use their private health insurance coverage.
