Center for Counseling and Accessibility

Hi there and welcome to the Center for Counseling and Accessibility! We are a safe space where students can come to get confidential help from qualified professionals to help you manage your mental health and stay on top of your academic success. 

We were college students once, so we know how exciting and enriching it can be, but we also know it can feel very stressful. We're here to help! Please know that everyone has difficulties at some point throughout life, and that it is ok to ask for help. Asking for help is not a weakness. In fact, being able to ask for help is a sign of self awareness, emotional intelligence, and overall maturity.

Our services are free and confidential, so we encourage you to take advantage of them whenever you need help. We know your personal and academic goals are important to you—let us help you achieve them. To schedule an appointment, please call 410.951.3959. 

How We Help Students

We offer several different services for students. All services are provided by licensed and qualified professionals. Students can come to the Counseling Center directly for services. Students may also come to the Center through a referral from another professional. Sometimes, we offer services in collaboration with other professionals or departments.

Here are some of the services we offer our students:

• Individual counseling to assist with personal concerns, develop better coping strategies, resolve conflicts, and handle crisis situations
• Group counseling to build and maintain satisfying personal relationships, improve effective communication and decision-making skills, and establish personal values
• Specialized programming and outreach services to address developmental learning needs and to maximize student academic and personal potential
• Crisis intervention and emergency support during personal trauma

Counseling services for students

What to Expect in Counseling at CCA?

What is Brief Counseling?

As a college student, it is common to experience stress, anxious feelings, challenges with managing academic demands and to just generally feel overwhelmed. Brief Counseling is a short-term psychotherapy method that addresses challenges like these in a solution focused way. Over 7 therapy sessions, the student and mental health counselor will meet inside the therapy office for one hour. During this one-hour session, the student and mental health counselor will discuss present challenges the student is facing and collaborate on ways to address these concerns.

Brief counseling is a great tool to learn individualized skills, such as relaxation techniques, problem solving skills, goal setting methods and coping strategies to target common challenges.

What to Expect in my first session with CCA?

Before meeting with a therapist, students will complete an assessment called CCAPS. This assessment is a brief questionnaire that assesses common challenges college students experience such as anxiety, family challenges, academic distress, peer challenges or substance use. Students will also be directed to sign paperwork explaining confidentiality. All paperwork is used to support students in reaching their individualized counseling goals.

A student's first scheduled appointment with the Center for Counseling and Accessibility (CCA) is called an Intake Appointment. During the intake appointment, you and your individual counselor will have an opportunity to disuses your reasons for seeking counseling. You and the counselor may explore things such as previous mental health challenges, present life stressor, relationships with your family and coping skills you are currently using.

The goal of an intake appointment is to establish a plan for supportive ways to address the student's concerns. This could be done in several ways:

• The student may return to the Center for Counseling and Accessibility for 7 sessions during each semester. The CCA follows a brief counseling model, teaching students helpful coping strategies, problem solving skills, emotional regulation and crisis management.

• The student may receive immediate support in finding a long-term therapist off-campus.

• The student may be referred to other supportive resources on campus or within the community to support their individual needs.

How to Prepare for my first session at CCA?

• What do you want to accomplish?

  This does not have to be a laser focused goal, but it’s helpful to have an idea of what you want to get out of the experience. Is there a problem you want to solve? Perhaps you want to gain insight or feedback about something. Maybe there is a pattern that you or others important to you have noticed.

• Keep an open mind

  Be open minded about the therapist while listening to your gut instinct.  Counseling isn’t about always being happy, but people instinctively know when they find a good fit. Don’t underestimate the importance of finding the right fit.

• Finding Your Fit

  Think about what you would like in a therapist. What’s important to you in the therapist? Sex, gender, age. Is the format important, virtual or in-person. What availability fits your schedule, daytime, evenings, or weekends?

Insurance

Full-time undergraduate students are automatically enrolled in United Health Care’s Student Plan, unless they “waive” their insurance, which requires proof of comparable coverage.

Learn about United Health Care's student plan

United Health Care Student Plan

The United Health Care student plan covers therapy, which could be called Behavioral Health Services. Find a therapist that accepts your student plan insurance.

Find a therapist

Finding a Therapist

What is Long Term Therapy?

Long term therapy involves attending sessions over several months or years to address challenges that may have impacted you for a significant amount of time. As the Center for Counseling and Accessibility follows a “brief counseling” model to address immediate concerns, students may be “referred” to another therapist that can provide ongoing support that is also accessible during school closures.

What to Expect in therapy?

Therapy is a process in which a person seeks professional support to address various life challenges such as relationship issues, problem behaviors, somatic responses, uncomfortable feelings, etc. To address these life challenges, the therapy process typically involves relationship building, identifying the problems and goal setting. To reach the goals set, the therapist will use specific interventions based upon their training and the “type of therapy” they practice.

When choosing a long-term therapist, it can be helpful to schedule a “consultation”, which is a free 10-30 minute conversation with a therapist you may be interested to work with where you can discuss your expectations of therapy, ask questions about their training and the “type of therapy” they use.

Types of Therapy

There are many types of therapy. When choosing a therapist, you can learn more about their “therapy type” in their individualized bio or during a “consultation”, you can ask your therapist about their specific training. Common therapy “types” are:

• Solution Focused Therapy
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
• Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
• Psychodynamic Therapy

Resources to Finding a therapist

To find a therapist, students can call the phone on the back of the insurance card or visit the insurance website. Here are some additional helpful websites to explore.

• Therapyforblackgirls.com
• Therapyforblackmen.org
• Psychologytoday.com
• Probonocounseling.org

Crisis Resources

The CCA provides crisis counseling to students experiencing distress. After CCA business hours, students have access to supportive community resources:  

Trevor Project: The Trevor project provides immediate crisis support. Connect to a crisis counselor 24/7, 365 days a year, from anywhere in the U.S via text, chat, or phone. The Trevor Project is 100% confidential and 100% free.

Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: For 24/7 mental health & substance use help, call 988. Helpline services include emergency counseling, referrals to local resources, and mobile response teams who can respond in the community. You can also visit 988helpline.org to learn more.

Baltimore Crisis Response: BCRI is available 24/7/365 to answer the 988 National Suicide Prevention Lifelines for the Baltimore Metro Region. Trained and caring counselors provide mental health and substance use information and referrals, supportive counseling, suicide crisis intervention, and adolescent crisis intervention. They also dispatch Mobile Response Teams and link callers with more intensive services within BCRI or the community if needed.

Confidentiality

To keep confidentiality means to keep information private. The Counseling Center strictly protects information shared during counseling sessions. We also keep our counseling records separate from all other university records.

Our legal and ethical obligation to release information

The Counseling Center protects counseling information, but there are some situations where we are legally and ethically required to release information:

• When you sign a release form permitting your counselor to speak with a specific person about your case
• When you are a danger to yourself or others
• When a judge court-orders us to release information
• When we suspect abuse or neglect of a minor, elderly person, or person with a disability

Our strict policy on confidentiality applies to students 18 and over. If you are under 18, talk with your counselor about how this may impact our ability to keep your information confidential.

Outreach and Education

The Center for Counseling and Accessibility is committed to the promotion and education of mental health through campus outreach services. We strive to be a resource to the broader Coppin community through engagement and visibility outside of our office. Through collaboration with other university student groups, academic departments, organizations and residence life, the CCA aims to reduce the stigma related to mental health and increase knowledge and skills related to common challenges college students face.

Requesting Outreach

To request an outreach presentation or workshop, contact our office at cca@coppin.edu Please include a brief summary about the event, including its overall goal/purpose, contact information, expected number of attendees, desired date, and location.

Reporting A Concern

Concerned About a Student?

The Center for Counseling and Accessibility consults with students, parents, faculty, and staff who have concerns about a student. Often, these people in a student's life are helpful in identifying a student in distress and getting the student of concern access to counseling services.

The Center for Counseling and Accessibility also does group crisis intervention and response for groups of faculty, staff, and students who have been affected by a crisis near to or on campus. Please contact us at (410) 951-3939 to request this service.

Reporting a Concern

University community members can report concerning, disruptive, and/or threatening behaviors to the Behavioral Assessment Team.

Behavioral Assessment Team Referral Form