The Counseling Services Center of Oswego State has recently added four new temporary counselors to its team to accommodate students who are on a long waiting list to be seen.
The waitlist for a student to get an appointment with a counselor has been stacking up since September, and has once gone over 70 students waiting on it, Director of Counseling Services Center Katherine Wolfe-Lyga said.
“The four part-time temporary counselors were added to help us to see more students who are requesting services. The existing counseling staff have been working diligently to accommodate students seeking services,” Wolfe-Lyga said. “As a staff team, we continue to explore service delivery options that can accommodate seeing more students without compromising the integrity of the services provided.”
This waitlist is only for one of the resources that are offered by the CSC, a scheduled meeting with a counselor. However, there are many other resources and options that students are encouraged to explore through Oswego State and CSC. These options include a program called “Let’s Talk!” offered on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
“Lets Talk!” is a counseling center outreach program designed to engage students by providing informal walk-in consultations with a counselor one-on-one,” the Oswego State CSC website states.
Students on the waitlist are encouraged to seek out help through these other resources in addition to or instead of the scheduled appointments they are waiting for.
“Please consider using ‘Let’s Talk,’ or any of our workshops/programs. Students are often surprised that one appointment may be all they need to gain clarity on how to move forward from whatever is disrupting their well-being,” Wolfe-Lyga said. “Additionally, it is critical that students who are experiencing crisis remember to use our walk-in crisis hours or after-hours phone service. If someone is experiencing a life-threatening emergency then 911 or University Police should be called.”
Other programs for students to take advantage of are listed on their website.
The Counseling Services Center is continually working toward expanding these resources and making sure that the mental health of students is the top priority on campus. The high demand for scheduled appointments with counselors and the limit of those counselors is an issue that is happening all over the country, according to Wolfe-Lyga.
Any Oswego State student is eligible for these counseling services if they have paid the student health fee on their tuition bill. To schedule an appointment, a student has to call the counseling office before coming in to see their next available time.
“When I called to make an appointment, the earliest available appointment they had was in two weeks, they can’t get you in that week,” junior Talia Pittiluga said.
The wait time can vary, but is usually around two weeks for most students. Some students schedule many appointments in advance, so they can have a session every two weeks. Human development major Alessandra Stark schedules bi-weekly sessions with the Counseling Services Center.
“I personally didn’t have a problem waiting, but I know some people would,” Stark said.
Although there are long waiting times to book a session with a counselor, this does not mean that they are unavailable to students. They host walk-ins during specific times over the week, and have a phone number students can call if it is after hours. All of these times are listed on their website.
Hiring these four new counselors will help the Counseling Services Center tend to students needs when it comes to mental health and well-being. There were other options to solve the issue of the waitlist, but those included cutting session times short, which they felt would compromise the effectiveness of their services, according to Wolfe-Lyga.
“They’re obviously really booked, so I think they needed these new counselors,” Stark said.
This new change brings hope to the students on the waitlist in need of counseling sessions. Four new counselors coupled with the other offered programs give students opportunities to get the help they need. However, if a student is in an emergency they should not call Counseling Service but call University Police or 911.
Graphic by Patrick Higgins | The Oswegonian
