Whether you are struggling with school-specific issues such as adjusting to living on campus or keeping up with schoolwork, or you are concerned about more long-standing issues such as anxious thought patterns, difficulty managing feelings of sadness or anger, challenges in relationships, or concerns about your family, the PCC is here to help. We provide supportive and solution-oriented interventions, and can help students build both their internal and external resources.
Our services are personally tailored to your specific needs, with special attention to your culture, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, religion, immigration experience, and ability. The PCC staff is highly skilled, knowledgeable, diverse, and student-centered. Every effort is made to maximize positive treatment outcomes in your work with us.
We look forward to partnering with you, and supporting you in your academic pursuits, personal development, and wellness journey.
PCC services are available to undergraduate and graduate students registered for the current semester. Services are provided at no cost.
TO SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT
Students may walk into the PCC or call us at 845-257-2920 to arrange an appointment. Upon first contact, you will be asked some brief questions to determine the urgency of need, and thus whether the appointment will be an intake or a crisis appointment.
Students presenting with urgent needs are invited to call or walk into the PCC for immediate crisis support, instead of scheduling an intake. See Crisis Intervention for more information.
What to Expect at Intake
The intake appointment may be your first relationship with the Psychological Counseling Center. The purpose of this appointment is to listen to your concerns, assess how best to assist you, and collaborate to decide the best treatment option. You are encouraged to arrive about 15 minutes early to the intake appointment, in order to complete secure online questionnaires about demographics, historical information, and current symptoms.
Following the initial appointment, and depending upon a student's needs and clinician availability, you may be scheduled for group or individual therapy services at the PCC, directed to another campus department, or referred to a provider in the local community. If time-limited individual therapy is appropriate, you may continue with the intake clinician, or may be scheduled with another PCC clinician, depending on availability and your specific treatment goals.
For more information about each service, please click on the title below.
The Psychological Counseling Center offers confidential, short-term, individual counseling to students, when clinically appropriate and available. To be eligible for services, an individual must be a currently registered New Paltz student, and a PCC clinician must assess that the nature of the student's concern is appropriate for time-limited counseling.
Brief psychotherapy is common across college counseling centers, and students are typically seen for up to 8 sessions per academic year. You and your therapist will determine the focus and duration of counseling, often during the initial session. During the course of treatment, you are expected to attend sessions as scheduled, and to actively engage in identifying and achieving your treatment goals.
Individual therapy sessions are about 45-to-50 minutes long. Sessions may be conducted in-person or virtually, depending on a student’s needs and the therapist’s assessment of the treatment focus and complexity of presenting issues.
The PCC does not provide counseling for mandated or court-related issues, nor do we provide assessment or accommodations evaluations for learning disorders, ADHD, autism, emotional support animals, or resident hall/room request living accommodations. However, a clinician can work closely with students to help them connect to appropriate off-campus resources.
For more information about our brief therapy model and our scope of services, please visit our FAQ page.
Fall 2024 groups will begin in Mid-Late September, and are usually accepting new members through the first two weeks. Check out the following link for more descriptions and information regarding our groups this semester: Current Groups
Group counseling provides an opportunity for you to discuss common concerns with other students, with an aim toward personal growth and change. All groups are facilitated by a licensed PCC clinician. Under the guidance of the facilitating therapist(s), group members support one another, explore personal concerns, share feedback, and challenge one another to develop healthier interpersonal and coping skills.
The PCC schedules several groups every semester. Groups typically have 5-12 student members, meet once a week for about 90 minutes, and are held at selected campus sites. Group topics are informed by the presenting needs of the New Paltz student body and may vary semester to semester.
Research indicates that group therapy can be especially effective for student issues, as students may benefit most from processing their stressors and anxieties with peers of similar life experience. Groups are recommended to students when they are determined to be the best treatment option, based on that student’s particular challenges and the therapist’s clinical assessment. Most students have commented that they find it beneficial to meet other students who share similar struggles, and feel very supported in group therapy.
Some students express concern about the confidentiality of group therapy. PCC staff expect participants in group therapy to maintain ethical and responsible standards of confidentiality concerning others' participation in the group. Group agreements regarding privacy and confidentiality are established at the very first meeting.
If you are interested in joining one of our groups, discuss your interest during your PCC intake, or call the PCC at 845-257-2920 to schedule an introductory appointment with the group facilitator. Stay up to date regarding group announcements by following our Instagram @newpaltzpcc.
Workshops provide opportunities for students to learn healthy coping skills that they can directly apply to their academic and living environment. The PCC conducts workshops and outreach on various topics across campus and in areas where students typically congregate, such as the library, residence halls, and the Student Union.
In similar fashion to our groups, workshop topics are informed by the presenting needs of the New Paltz student body and may vary semester to semester. Some examples of workshops and outreach events facilitated by PCC counselors include:
- #SkillstoChill is a group workshop about anxiety, it teaches students the basics of how your nervous system functions and how to regulate it. Coping tips and strategies are a focus of the group – students leave with a stress-busting toolkit to help them feel more hopeful and in control.
- Practicing Positive Masculinity is about building connection and community through interactive workshops that explore masculinity in society. The goal is to break down the social constructs of masculinity, individualism, and colonization so that we can create a new village of support and safety. This workshop is open to all gender identities.
- Depression & Resilience Screenings have been offered during Mental Health Day, in collaboration with student group Active Minds and campus well-being initiative Holistic Hawks.
To find out about upcoming events, check out our Instagram @newpaltzPCC or visit our Engage page. If you have questions or would like to register (if needed), call us at 845-257-2920.
Workshops may also be created for specific student groups, classrooms, and/or faculty members at their request – please call us if you would like to discuss creating an event for your group.
Mental health resources on campus are especially designed to respond to student needs during times of extreme duress/crisis. A PCC clinician is always on-call to respond to these needs.
For mental health crises occurring during weekday/daytime hours (M-F 8:30am-5:00pm during the academic year), students should contact the PCC by calling (845) 257-2920 or by going directly to the PCC office, located in the Student Health and Counseling Center. When calling, you should inform the administrative assistant that you are experiencing a crisis and request a same-day appointment. Our staff responds as quickly as possible – most students are seen for crisis appointments on a first come-first served basis; however, if the counselor is already in a session, walk-in students are asked to wait in our waiting area. Students will also be asked to complete a brief questionnaire about the crisis.
For crisis support after hours and on the weekend, students should call the PCC and follow the automated prompts to reach our answering service. Ask to be connected to the PCC "Emergency Contact for Student Consult" (ECSC); the answering service will in turn alert a PCC clinician to return the student’s call promptly.
For assistance with a life-threatening emergency to yourself or others, call University Police at 845-257-2222 for on-campus support. If off-campus, please call 911 or your local hospital.
How do I know if I'm experiencing a crisis?
Some examples of crisis situations are:
- Preoccupation with or uncontrollable suicidal thoughts, or behavior involving the immediate wish to end one's life
- Preoccupation with or uncontrollable thoughts or behavior involving the immediate wish to do serious harm to someone else
- Increasing urge to cut or engage in self-harming behavior
- Recent physical and/or sexual assault
- Persistent inability to sleep, eat, or get out of bed
- Hearing voices/seeing things that no one else hears/sees
- Actively experiencing overwhelming feelings related to past or present trauma
- Sudden/unexpected medical crisis or loss of a family member or friend
- Panic attacks that are uncontrollable and increasing in occurrence
- High risk for academic failure and/or dismissal
- Escalation in roommate/suitemate conflict
- Other issues that may seriously impact a student’s ability to continue their studies
For additional information about other campus and local emergency resources, please see our Crisis Intervention page.
For information about when to reach out to the PCC about a friend/family member/student, see our Concerned About a Student? page.
The PCC offers time-limited psychiatric consultation services to students who are current clients at the Psychological Counseling Center (either through regularly scheduled individual sessions or through participation in one of our groups). Our consulting psychiatrists are NYS licensed and specialize in adolescent treatment, with extended experience in college student mental health issues. They provide psychiatric consultation regarding mental health diagnoses, and when warranted, prescribe medication and provide follow-up appointments.
PCC psychiatrists are especially competent and understanding regarding factors of diversity, as well as regarding the impact that marginalization has on the mental health status of underserved populations. Consulting psychiatry services are therefore culturally sensitive and relevant.
Access to the PCC consulting psychiatrists is only through a PCC clinician. When mutually determined and agreed that psychiatric consultation would be beneficial, the PCC clinician will schedule psychiatric appointments on a student’s behalf. The PCC clinician typically meets with the psychiatrist prior to each individually scheduled appointment, in order to provide the psychiatrist with all the necessary information about the student and the purpose of referral.
Following the initial psychiatric appointment, students who are prescribed medication must remain engaged in counseling with the PCC clinician (or continue their participation in group counseling). All scheduled initial and ongoing psychiatric appointments are managed through the PCC clinician. Students who stop attending therapy appointments will be required to see their PCC therapist before further follow up appointments can be made with the consulting psychiatrist for medication refill.
Medications are not provided by the PCC; nor are samples of medication provided. Please note that after a prescription is written, it is the responsibility of the student client to fill prescriptions at a local pharmacy. Students are responsible for the cost of filling their medication – please check the “Prescription Medication” coverage in your insurance policy.
The Psychological Counseling Center has additionally partnered with SUNY Upstate Medical University to provide access to the SUNY Student Tele-Psychiatry Network. These services also follow a time-limited model and require a referral via your counselor at the PCC.
Students already receiving treatment from their private psychiatrist are encouraged to continue their medication evaluations, monitoring, and follow-up visits with their private psychiatrist. Since both the Psychological Counseling Center’s individual counseling and the psychiatric consultation services are short-term, continuing with a private psychiatrist will extend your care. Please contact us if you have questions.
“Let’s Talk” is a weekly 2-hour outreach program, located in the Student Union Building, where students can drop-in for one-on-one, informal, brief consultation and support from PCC clinicians. No appointment is necessary; “first-come, first served.”
Fall 2023 Hours and Location:
Wednesdays from 1-3pm in the Student Union Building (SUB) Room 416
See our “Let’s Talk” Drop-In Services page for more information and answers to Frequently Asked Questions.
Depending on individual goals, needs, and clinical concerns, some students may benefit most from open-ended treatment on a consistent, weekly basis (regardless of semester breaks), rather than the time-limited treatment provided by the Psychological Counseling Center (PCC). In these instances referral to an off-campus therapist for continuing care may be the best option.
In addition to providing the names of private local providers, local clinics, and/or online virtual options, PCC clinicians will work with students and provide coaching about how to contact an off-campus provider, utilize insurance coverage, and discuss their personal mental health needs. The PCC understands the importance of accessible mental health care, and we will support students through the referral process until they are able to secure the services they need.
In general, the process of finding a private therapist includes:
- Locating the insurance policy information found on your insurance card, including carrier name, policy/group number, and phone or website
- Inquiring about benefit coverage for "outpatient mental health care"
- Looking up a list of area "mental health providers" on the company website, or by speaking to an insurance representative on the phone
- Utilizing websites such as Psychology Today or Inclusive Therapists to search for providers, and filter the search by insurance
- Calling the therapist and speaking to them directly, leaving a message on their voicemail, or sending them an email requesting information and an initial appointment
- If leaving a message, be sure to provide your contact number and the best time for the therapist to return your call
- Prepare for a return call from the therapist by clearing or setting up your voicemail
Should community therapy services be needed, students may utilize their insurance to help offset the cost of treatment. If students do not have insurance coverage, a PCC therapist may assist with connection to an insurance navigator for help obtaining insurance through the New York Marketplace.
Though frequently requested, the Psychological Counseling Center does not provide counseling for court-mandated or court-related therapy. PCC staff will provide referrals to local area therapists who do offer this service.
The PCC also does not provide assessment or accommodations evaluations for learning disorders, ADHD, autism, emotional support animals, or resident hall/room request living accommodations.
The PCC functions as a training site for graduate students in mental health counseling and social work, as well as psychology doctoral candidates. Our program is known for its consistent structure, cultural relevance, ethical standards, and close supervision.
The PCC has been one of the primary training sites for the SUNY New Paltz graduate program in Mental Health Counseling, for both Internship and Practicum opportunities. See the SUNY New Paltz Graduate Counselor Education website. We do not accept undergraduate trainees into our practicum or internship program.
Graduate trainee applicants are screened prior to selection, and before conducting an intake or seeing a client, the trainee must satisfactorily complete and pass each step of the training module. During the PCC internship experience, trainees develop their assessment, interviewing, listening, and counseling intervention skills as they work with clients under the regular supervision of PCC senior clinicians. Weekly individual supervision meetings and PCC clinical staff meetings provide important supervisory forums for counselors-in-training. Trainees participate in the PCC's Outreach Programs, developing and providing psychoeducational workshops for the college community.
If you are a graduate student in counseling, social work, or a related field, and are interested in applying for a clinical training experience at the SUNY New Paltz PCC, please call 845-257-2920 and make an appointment to speak to the Director of Training.
What are the credentials and standards of the PCC?
The PCC interdisciplinary professional staff may include licensed social workers, licensed psychologists, licensed mental health counselors, and consulting psychiatrists.
The PCC is the college's primary training site for the graduate-level mental health counseling program. Additionally, graduate trainees in mental health counseling, social work, and psychology doctoral candidates from other schools, may intern at the PCC as well. All trainees at the PCC provide counseling only under the close clinical supervision of licensed PCC senior clinicians.
Ethical and legal policies and procedures follow guidelines of the State of New York, the American Psychological Association, American College Counseling Association, and the National Association of Social Workers.
The PCC adheres to the ethical, professional, and confidentiality guidelines of the social work, mental health counseling, and psychology professions.
