Next step services

Your first appointment lasts 30 minutes, and can extend to however long you need that day. At the first appointment, there are a few documents to complete. Access clinicians will ask enough questions to assess your presenting needs and concerns, provide a non-judgmental listening ear, and work with you to determine if a next step is helpful or needed. Your mental health needs, lived experience and college path is important. Access clinicians work to gain insight into all three areas. Toward the end of that first appointment, you and the Access clinician will identify whether your needs for the day are met, or if next steps are helpful.

You may not know what you want at the end of your first appointment. Or, you may want to think through options, in relation to all of your other goals. This is normal, and we are here to help you navigate what’s best for you. Access clinicians will suggest scheduling a brief follow up appointment to check in with you, offer to help connect you with other valuable resources, and provide a few skills to try.

You may decide that brief individual or group therapy is the right next step. Your Access clinician will learn more about the type of service you feel you can build trust with, and what goal you may want to pursue in brief therapy. They may also suggest some pathways, based on our best practice, for what can meet your goal. We have a diverse team of professionals, both licensed and in training, that offer brief therapy. We work to communicate your story through our documentation, so you don’t have to retell everything to your continuing care clinician.

We follow a model of goal directed counseling where you design a goal with your counselor, and then meet in a schedule that works to help you achieve your goal. Not everyone who comes through our doors needs long term, intensive counseling, rather some goal directed needs can be met after just a few sessions. Established in 2021, you can call Open Call and Open Chat to request scheduled services, and be connected with a licensed clinician for brief, individual counseling.

Counseling is a combination of talking through challenges you’re facing, learning new skills, thinking in new, helpful ways, and incorporating additional skills and resources into achieving your goals. Your counselor may also suggest helpful resources to compliment your counseling sessions. Visit Resources by Student Communities  to learn about helpful resources just for you.

Creating change in your life can be very powerful in a group setting with peers facing similar challenges.

We’ve designed a variety of group therapy topics to meet the unique needs of students. Groups are led by master and doctorate level clinicians and trainees who possess a vast range of skills, expertise and experience. These therapy groups are confidential, free of cost and only require an initial appointment to get started and learn more.

An initial consultation appointment is required before attending any of the scheduled groups. The appointment can be scheduled through ASU My Health Portal or call us at 480-965-6146.

To access the schedule of groups, visit https://eoss.asu.edu/counseling/services/group-therapy.