Counseling Center now providing same-day appointments
TU is offering more services to help with students’ mental health
By Kyle Hobstetter on September 7, 2021
The Towson University Counseling Center is making it easier than ever for students to access their staff and free services.
Starting this term, the Counseling Center is introducing a Flexible Care Model, which allows students to schedule a same-day, 30-minute appointment with a Counseling Center staff member. Students can walk-in and receive immediate support, or call to make an appointment for later in the day.
Student Services
Counseling Center
As they have throughout the weekend, staff through the Division of Student Affairs, Counseling Center and Residence Life continue to be available, providing support for our students and community. Counseling and support services are available through the TU Counseling Center at 410-704-2512.
Another positive for the Flexible Care Model is that students will able to come for a follow-up appointment on a drop-in basis, rather than needing to schedule it two or three weeks in advance.
“Whatever day you need support, you can reach out and receive it,” says Oluwatofunmi Oni, staff psychologist and digital mental health coordinator for the Counseling Center.
One of the biggest reasons that the Flexible Care Model was implemented was because of feedback from students. Through this feedback, the Counseling Center is hoping that students are as excited about the change as the staff is.
“This is something that our students really advocated for,” says Keeba Gardner, director of outreach, media and prevention at the Counseling Center. “We heard them and we wanted to be able to respond to their needs, because we also wanted to be able to see students when they needed to be seen as opposed to them having to schedule an appointment two weeks later.
“We listened to them and we’re hoping they really respond positively to this new change.”
Along with the same-day model, the Counseling Center will still offer many of the same services they have in the past. This includes group counseling sessions for immigrant students, first generation students, women of color, LGBTQ+ students, Grief and Loss support, student-athletes and graduate students.
READ MORE: A complete list of the services offered by the Counseling Center
The Counseling Center is also providing two new services for students. The first, which is in partnership with the Student Government Association, is Togetherall, a safe and anonymous online peer-to-peer community to get free mental health support.
All Towson University students have access to Togetherall, and provides students with additional online support and resources.
“Togetherall is another free resource for our students to access before or after they
access us,
Gardner says. “It’s a wonderful option for peer-to-peer support, because not everybody
feels they need to come to the Counseling Center and get treatment, but they do need
some additional support.”
Along with Togetherall, TU will also be partnering with Kognito, which is an interactive training simulation designed to help TU faculty and staff learn the signs of psychological distress and the conversational tools to approach an at-risk student and refer them to the Counseling Center.
“Often times, people might not have easy access to a mental health professional, so we often become each others' support,” Oni says. “Having this training is, is that way of getting that specific knowledge and information, so if you are put in that position where you have to offer direct support to your friend before they can even get to the next level, you don’t feel like you’re put on the spot.”
With students back on campus, and mental health being important in times like these, the Counseling Center is doing all it can to help the campus community.
Before the start of the fall term, the Counseling Center had been offering virtual meetings to accommodate safety protocols. And while Gardner and Oni says the Counseling Center felt fortunate to offer virtual services, there is nothing like being face-to-face with a student and helping them.
“Being able to return to therapy, in-person, is going to just be richer,” Oni says. “I love working with college students. Seeing them back on campus, and seeing how excited they are, it makes our energy even higher to provide them with support.”
Students can learn more about the Counseling Center by attending the “Back to School Open House” event on Wednesday, September 8 from 4:30-6 p.m. The Open House will provide students a chance to tour the center, meet with staff members, play games, get a free massage and participate in a free yoga class.
Students can also stay up to date with the Counseling Center by following them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, which has video resources for the campus community.