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Counseling Services

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OLLU offers a Safe and Confidential Community 

The university experience can be a time of substantial growth for students filled with changes, challenges, and new decisions. Counseling Services offers a safe and confidential community of mental health care to help students navigate these changes, resolve psychological distress, and develop a life-long orientation to resilience and mental and emotional wellness.

 

Services

Counseling Services' therapists are available to listen to and support students during their time at OLLU. Whether they are feeling stressed, worried, sad, having trouble with relationships, having difficulty with family, or are uncertain about what to do in school, Counseling Services is available to help.

About Counseling

  • Counseling sessions can be virtual or in-person and last 45-50 minutes. They are free for currently enrolled students living within the state of Texas. The student and counselor will work together to determine how many counseling sessions would be appropriate based on their needs and Counseling Services resources. Typically, a plan is outlined at the start of their counseling and is reassessed and adjusted as therapy unfolds.  

Scheduling Sessions

  • Students can set up a therapy appointment by visiting the office in Walter Student Service Center, Suite 206, by contacting them by phone at 210-431-4053, or emailing counselingandwellness@ollusa.edu. Students located in the state of Texas, who are new to Counseling Services may also register as new clients via Titanium Registration. Once registration is completed, you can be scheduled with a counselor for an in-person session at Walter Student Service Center, Suite 206 or for virtual appointments.
  • Oftentimes, faculty or staff are the first person a student goes to for help with a problem, so we encourage faculty and staff to refer students to counseling services, as well. Faculty and staff should validate the student’s experience, normalize the need for support, and inform them a referral will be made to counseling services. Faculty and staff will fill out our Faculty/Staff Referral Form and email it to counselingandwellness@ollusa.edu.  
  • Counseling Services does accept walk-in appointments, based on counselor availability (though appointments are preferred). Students who are experiencing extreme distress may need to be seen by a counselor urgently and may walk-in to our offices, which are located in Walter Student Service Center, Suite 206 and University Wellness and Activities Center, Room 112. The student will be assessed by our staff and either seen immediately or triaged to appropriate care.

On-Demand Telehealth Mental Health Services

  • All OLLU currently enrolled students also have access to free mental health services through the Virtual Care Group. In the moment support, if you need to talk to someone immediately, 24/7/365 is provided and scheduled counseling appointments are available.  You can set up an appointment here or by downloading the Virtual Care Group app.
  • You can reach OLLU’s Counseling and Wellness Services at 210-431-4053 or counselingandwellness@ollusa.edu. We are located on the San Antonio campus in the Walter Student Service Center, Suite 206.

Group Therapy helps students share their experiences with a small group of their peers and a counselor. Group therapy is as effective, and in some cases, more effective than individual therapy. Many clients find group therapy helps them to feel a greater sense of connection to others and normalizes what they are going through.

Please check the Counseling and Wellness Sharepoint site for a listing of our current groups, dates, and times.  If you have a suggestion for a new group, feel free to share with us at counselingandwellness@ollusa.edu.

Workshops are opportunities to learn and practice different coping skills and wellness habits aimed toward improving mental health. Topics include:

  • Stress Management
  • Self-care
  • Happiness and wellbeing
  • Communication and assertiveness

Members of the OLLU community are encouraged to prioritize their wellness by attending one of the workshops. Everyone is welcome and no appointment is required. If you are interested in requesting a specific workshop for an organization, club or class, please fill out an Outreach Request.

It is our mission at Counseling & Wellness Services to go beyond the walls of our offices and reach out to the campus community to promote awareness, holistic wellness, and psychological and interpersonal wellness on campus.  We lead our awareness events and outreach work with a multicultural and holistic perspective that is collaborative in spirit, always with an eye towards social justice.  We believe that a healthy environment is an essential piece for the individual students’ wellness and academic success and partner with campus community members in creating a socially just climate that sustains and fosters wellness, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

Some of our awareness and outreach events include:

  • Cardboard Kids
  • Clothesline Project
  • Send Silence Packing
  • Out of Darkness Walk

When you have a mental health related concern or question, know that Counseling and Wellness Services staff is available to provide help.
Please note consultation services are not counseling. Consultation is a very short-term conversation which focuses on the problem-solving of a specific concern. Students, faculty, and staff, as well as family and friends of our students are welcome to reach out to Counseling and Wellness Services for a consultation meeting. Please know that consultation is a confidential service and what you have shared with us will remain confidential. However, we cannot share any information about students we are currently seeing or have seen in the past, as that information is protected by HIPAA. We cannot even confirm or deny if a student has been seen by our office. If you are needing information from Counseling and Wellness Services about a student, you must talk to that student about filling out a Release of Information with our office, specifying that their information may be released to you.

Some examples of consultation topics include:

  • Concern about the well-being of a student
  • Responding to a crisis or a sudden change (such as death or illness of a student or family member)
  • Concern about potential threats of violence or self-harm
  • Interpersonal conflict in the classroom, living situation, or the workplace
  • Issues that affect the campus climate and student wellness
  • Questions about a mental health topic or available services
  • Guidance on how to refer your student to Counseling Services

Training:
Counseling and Wellness Services is happy to provide training on a number of topics that may be relevant to you and your constituents.  Training topics may include:

  • Mindfulness Practices
  • Emotional Regulation Skills
  • Mastering Anxiety
  • Assessing Risk and Preventing Suicide (specifically the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale and QPR)
  • Emotional Distress vs. Crisis

We welcome suggestions for training on any other topics. Please reach out to us via our Outreach Request if you would like us to provide training for your office or department.

If you are contacting us to report an incident or patterns of distressed, disturbed, or disruptive behavior by a student, please also file a Student Behavior Concerns report.

If there is an immediate threat to a student's physical safety, or a threat to another person's physical safety, students are strongly encouraged to contact 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. 

If a student has an urgent mental health need during business hours, Counseling Services therapists are available between the hours of 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday, in Walter Student Service Center, Suite 206 (during summer session, we close at Noon on Fridays). 

Examples of urgent needs include:

  • A student is having suicidal thoughts and is worried they are unable to keep themselves physically safe.
  • A student has recently experienced a physical or sexual assault.
  • A student states they are hearing or seeing things.
  • A student recently experienced or witnessed a threat to life or safety.
  • A student has recently experienced the death of a loved one and it is affecting their day-to-day functioning (i.e. they are not eating, or sleeping, they are unable to go to class, they are crying uncontrollably).

Emergencies
During an emergency, if you are not able to visit the Counseling Services Office or it is after hours, please contact the University Police at 210-433-0911. Students experiencing emergencies after hours and off campus, please call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. Please take note of the following emergency numbers:

  • The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: call or text 988
  • The Center for Health Care Services Crisis Line: 210-223-7233 or 1-800-316-9241 (San Antonio Campus)
  • Tropical Texas Behavioral Health Crisis Line at 877-289-7199 (RGV Campus)
  • The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD Crisis Line 713-970-7000 (Houston Campus)
  • Emergency Room at University Hospital: 210-358-2078
  • The United Way Help Line: 210-227-4357

Emergency rooms close to the San Antonio campus:

Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital Emergency Room
8026 Floyd Curl Drive
San Antonio, Texas 78229
https://methodistphysicianpractices.com/location/psychiatric-inpatient-management-services 

Metropolitan Methodist Hospital
1310 McCullough Ave.
San Antonio, Texas 78212
Main Number 210-757-2200
Emergency Department 210-757-2280
http://sahealth.com/location/metropolitan-methodist-hospital

University Hospital — Psych ER
4502 Medical Drive
San Antonio, Texas 78229
210-358-8881 
https://www.universityhealthsystem.com/services/behavioral-health

The Center for Health Care Services Crisis Care Center
601 N. Frio
San Antonio, Texas 78207
210-210-223-7233
https://chcsbc.org/

Unless noted, these phone numbers are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Don't want to talk? You can also get support through text and chat, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

 

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