MCPHS Spotlights Counseling Services For Mental Health Awareness Month

For Mental Health Awareness Month, our Student Counseling Services team answered students’ questions via Instagram stories. Below is the list of questions and answers.

Is student counseling free or can you use insurance?

We do not take insurance but we are considered free through the university.

Cassie Spina, Mental Health Counselor, MCPHS Manchester

What types of things can you help with?

The most common issues brought to the counseling center are depression and anxiety. However, we can also help with conflict between friends and roommates, family issues, romantic relationships, substance use, eating disorders, sexual assault, and other traumas. We can also help you find long-term care if your needs go beyond our usual run of four to eight sessions.

Charles Kim, Mental Health Counselor, MCPHS Boston

Can a student reach out to Counseling Services if they are not enrolled in summer classes?

If you are not taking summer classes, Counseling Services can help you find a local therapist using your insurance. However, if you find yourself in an acute mental health crisis, you may use our telephone-based mental health counseling service at any time, night or evening, by dialing 617.732.2837. Dial 9 once the voice message begins to be connected immediately to a telephone-based mental health counselor.

Charles Kim, Mental Health Counselor, MCPHS Boston

Can you help us find a counselor outside of the university?

When students ask if we can help them find a counselor outside of the university, the answer is yes. So, we provide a variety of different services here at Counseling Services at the Worcester campus, one of them being case management. So we provide some case management around getting to know what students have for insurance. That's where we would start. Once we have an idea of what they have for insurance, whether they are enrolled in the university's health plan or enrolled in their own health plan, we would help them find providers that take their insurance. If they don't have insurance at all, then we can help them get enrolled into insurance. And then give them a list of resources such as Psychology Today; that's a wonderful resource to use when looking for local counselors in the area that do take your insurance. We also offer the ShrinkSpace which is another way to find a mental health professional in the community.

Gabriela Trainor, Mental Health Counselor, MCPHS Worcester

Is counseling available online or via the phone or in person?

Before COVID, it was all in-person and then since COVID, it was primarily through Zoom. We have now started to develop a hybrid so we primarily focus on Zoom and we are trying to get in person back on track as much as COVID will allow. To answer your question, it's primarily online but working towards a hybrid. If you can't do Zoom or in person, we're happy to work just through phone calls. It's trying to be as flexible [as possible] to meet your needs as a student body.

Cassie Spina, Mental Health Counselor, MCPHS Manchester

Can you call for a one-time meeting or does it need to be ongoing?

Sometimes students with elevated needs need to come to us more for ongoing sessions or ongoing case management to get them to transition to a community provider, so that can really depend on the circumstance. Some students will come our way and just feel like one session was plenty to just get some support, learn some basic skill work and get some basic resources and then they can just continue to manage day to day after that. We always start with an initial consult here at Counseling Services which is when students meet with a clinician for the first time and that is when we assess what the needs are. This is where we ask our students what their needs are and what brings them [to us], what sorts of clinical goals they have and what sorts of questions they have, and then we would move from there. If they need some referrals for outside providers, we would do case management around that. If they come our way and need some internal referrals—for example to the Center for Academic Success & Enrichment (CASE) office or the Office of Student Access and Accommodations (OSA) office, or to Dean of Students, we work very collaboratively with other departments so we can surely make some referrals to them as well. Like I said, it totally depends on what the student is coming to us for. It can be a one-time meeting to get them some support to get them along their way or it can be ongoing counseling support as well.

Gabriela Trainor, Mental Health Counselor, MCPHS Worcester

Can counselors request and conduct diagnostic screenings on behalf of students?

Counseling Services may conduct informal screenings for depression, anxiety, and other disorders, however those are for in-session use only and are not submitted to outside parties. Official screenings for formal diagnoses, academic accommodations, and legal issues will be referred to your primary care physician or other specialist.

Charles Kim, Mental Health Counselor, MCPHS Boston

How do you schedule appointments?

There are several ways to schedule an appointment with Counseling Services whether you are a peer, faculty/staff or referring yourself. To book an appointment please email or call your campus counseling department.

BostonEmail: counseling@mcphs.eduPhone: 617.732.2837Visit: Fennel B09 at 179 Longwood Ave, Boston MA

WorcesterEmail: counseling.worc@mcphs.eduPhone: 508.373.5718Visit: 10 Lincoln Sq, Worcester MA, 4th floor

ManchesterEmail: counseling.manch@mcphs.eduPhone: 603.314.1781Visit: Room 118D in the BASC building at 1260 Elm Street, Manchester NH

For after-hours urgent care, call any of the numbers above and press 9.

You can always walk into Counseling Services, but we may be unavailable if we are in sessions.

Learn more about Counseling Services on the MCPHS website and their Instagram @mcphscounselingandwellness. If you are concerned about a student peer, you can reach out to us and we can discuss a plan that will support the identified student. Faculty/staff are also able to reach out to Counseling Services for a student who may benefit from support.

Faculty and Staff Resources

Human Resources is pleased to offer a variety of sessions on health and wellness including guided stretch, yoga, mindfulness trainings, and much more.