Student Counseling & Psychological Services has administered counseling sessions for students remotely since the pandemic, a program it says it will continue to offer through the fall 2020 semester.
Dr. Dustin Johnson, assistant director of outreach and mental health initiatives for SCPS, said his office has provided telecounseling over the phone and Zoom counseling services since the shift to remote instruction.
“SCPS will continue to offer telecounseling for its individual counseling, group counseling and psychiatric services throughout the fall semester as has been done since the pandemic caused the shift to remote instruction in March,” Johnson said. “Our on-call services remain available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and have not been paused since the beginning of the pandemic.”
With remote counseling, students either have the option to sign up for a telecounseling session or a session through AUSecure, a special form of Zoom with extra encryption to provide further security and privacy. Any student who has had multiple sessions with SCPS is familiar with AUSecure, and many students have found it very comfortable, Johnson said.
“... Our counselors have shared that they have become more comfortable with using Zoom as a means to connect with students,” Johnson said. “Students have shared that not only has counseling been more accessible as the sessions have been offered through Zoom, but there is a level of comfort in opening up while in one’s own secure, safe space ... Even though we have to work through the barrier of our clients not being physically there with us ... it is easier for them to lift the emotional barrier caused by having to talk about their personal lives in an unfamiliar space.”
In addition to the individual counseling services, the University offers workshops, outreach events and discussion groups available for all students seeking mental health assistance. There are many resources available on the SCPS website, including self-directed resources such as workshops for getting motivated and tips for how to deal with stress.
“These activities involve connecting people offering coping ideas and helping people find solutions to problems,” Johnson said. “They are easy to access, and students do not have to be clients of the center to utilize them.”
Dr. Johnson recommends any student interested in SCPS or facing life stress to go to their website to see the services offered, including daily seminar series, at http://aub.ie/SCPSCOVID.
Any Auburn student interested in individual or group therapy services, telecounseling services or in a mental health crisis or emergency situation can call 334-844-5123, which is available 24/7.
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