Counseling
Counseling provides mental health support for students’ well-being and developmental growth within a safe environment.
Two critical measures of counseling services are unique students served and individual counseling sessions held.
Top Four CCAPS Areas of Student Stress
The Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms (CCAPS) instrument is an empirically designed clinical questionnaire for college counseling centers. Our students are asked to complete the CCAPS before each counseling session, providing self-reported data about their experiences of distress in 8 areas: Depression, Anxiety, Social Anxiety, Academic Distress, Eating Concerns, Family Distress, Frustration/Anger and Substance Use. A value of “0” indicates little or no stress in a particular area while a value of “4” indicates high levels of stress. Using CCAPS allows us to track internal data year over year to assess trends among our students relative to the national data and to inform our design of clinical informational workshops and group program offerings.
CCAPS National Data for Academic Year 24/25 for Comparison: Social 2.08; Anxiety 1.99; Academic 1.93; Distress 1.76; Depression 1.63
Highlight: Improved Risk Assessment Training and Practice
In June 2024, all Counseling staff participated in the The Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS) Foundational training, and training on the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). Usage of these tools, well established in the counseling field, facilitates open communication with our community partner, Counseling Services of Addison County while working together on complex situations. The C-SSRS has been integrated into Counseling’s Electronic Health Record for regular usage in documentation processes. In January 2025, Counseling implemented written protocols for use of the C-SSRS as well as documentation of assessed risk. All new staff now receive the CAMS and C-SSRS Trainings and associated protocols.