# University Councelling



## SF4004 (Dec 18, 2017)

Has anyone here wver tried speaking to a university councellor? What's your experience been like?


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## discoveryother (Sep 18, 2016)

yeah. didn't help much. she was way out of her depth.


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## SF4004 (Dec 18, 2017)

andy1984thesecond said:


> yeah. didn't help much. she was way out of her depth.


Did u stick with one, or did u try multiple? I'm going to start counselling in January and I have no idea whether it will help. Not sure how much I should tell them and dont know if they'll just agree with what I say?


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## discoveryother (Sep 18, 2016)

SF4004 said:


> Did u stick with one, or did u try multiple? I'm going to start counselling in January and I have no idea whether it will help. Not sure how much I should tell them and dont know if they'll just agree with what I say?


just the one. i didn't really need one. it was anticipatory, in case things went more badly than usual.

it depends what you want to get out of it i guess. i just wanted someone to know what my deal was if i needed to talk to someone later. so i just told her about my SAD and avoidance and stuff and what i feared might happen. she didn't agree or disagree, she didn't have much to say at all.


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## asittingducky (Apr 23, 2013)

My school offered group sessions. For some reason, seeing others have the same irrational fears really helped me recognize them in myself.


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## SF4004 (Dec 18, 2017)

asittingducky said:


> My school offered group sessions. For some reason, seeing others have the same irrational fears really helped me recognize them in myself.


That sounds really helpful, our uni doesn't do that, they offer counselling on either depression or provide CBT, and I don't think they give group CBT. I would love to meet and speak to others who have SA face to face, especially those in my age group, but there doesn't really seem to be any groups up in Scotland for this :frown2:


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## asittingducky (Apr 23, 2013)

SF4004 said:


> That sounds really helpful, our uni doesn't do that, they offer counselling on either depression or provide CBT, and I don't think they give group CBT. I would love to meet and speak to others who have SA face to face, especially those in my age group, but there doesn't really seem to be any groups up in Scotland for this :frown2:


A therapist would guide us to take turns on a given topic. Some of the people were experienced at doing group sessions and helped too. I gained the courage to stand up to my first workplace bully thanks to group sessions. And they were free. Instead of reading or doing exercises, which I find pedantic, you actually get to examine real life examples of the problematic thinking. Since then I've found that gatherings with like minded people really energizes you to deal with your day.


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## Guts101 (May 28, 2015)

Im tempted to go back after the Christmas break.

I hope there are some group therapy, I could really do with making some friends.

But honestly I just want to be normal not hang around with weirdos.


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## fellowdeer (Sep 12, 2017)

I recently went to do triage for the first time over this week at my college. Overall, I think it helped me a bit. 

Since what I was dealing was personal, I had to share my thoughts that I have been thinking about and recent events that I am still coping with and answering questions like "Is this your first time seeing a counsellor?" "How long has this been going on for?" and other things that I think have been affecting my relationships with trying to make friends and why it seems to end similarly to my past loss of friendships.

I was able to do a test for what my depression is which resulted severe. I was able to get accommodations for extra time for deadlines on assignments because I sometimes can't concrete on my assignments and would sometimes do poorly or unfinished assignments. I was also suggested to a program at the school which she recommended one for controlling emotions which is a group session. The counsellor believes it might help me make friends who have similar issues to what I have been dealing with. Then since I'm part of the LGBT community, she also recommended me to email someone who runs the program if there's any meet ups at the school which might also help me find friends as well. 

Basically after all that, she helped me make appointments with the clinic at the school which then I assume i would be recommended by the doctor to try antidepressants which is what I really would like to try due to my life spinning uncontrollably in a bad spot recently.

That was my experience. I didn't consider it horrible but what i've been told and heard multiple times is that my college has very excellent counsellors and everyone seem to say good things about it.

I can totally understand that some universities or colleges may have counsellors that aren't really "helping" which i assume because the counsellor you meet didn't meet your needs which well, don't give up, I think you just need to find another one in the school or maybe someplace else. Think about what gender you prefer talking with, I supposedly think I've always been okay with speaking with females not because I'm a female and lesbian but it's just what my mind goes to. Not only that, my mom usually is the one who does the talking to me and my brother, my dad isn't out of the picture but he works a lot more than my mom so there's days that I might not see him and his schedule switches up every week. I see my mom the most currently at this time of my life and have been more comfortable speaking to her.

I hope things work out for you and to everybody else who decides to move forward to giving counseling a try. If you don't like it, i've been told people try it once and never came back which is okay. Nobody is telling you to do anything but what counts is that you gave it a try.


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## Callum96 (Jul 18, 2013)

my experience was that it was absolutely garbage, but obviously every uni has different standards. the guy was clueless, didn't seem to have any understanding of what social anxiety was and the difficulties it presents w.r.t. uni life. it was as if he didn't think there was anything wrong with me and i left feeling like a piece of ****. my uni also offers group sessions and other stuff like stress relief and public speaking help but i don't plan on going back for more.


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## peterbutter (Jan 14, 2018)

Mine were a waste of time, though free. I had two different therapist at my college and neither had hardly a clue what OCD was.


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