Student Counseling offers both tele-health counseling and in-person counseling. When you call to schedule your first appointment, the office staff will discuss your preference with you. If students are not on campus, but remain in the state of Minnesota, you are also eligible for tele-health services. This is subject to change based on personal preferences, clinical recommendations and/or public health recommendations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article: Virtual Therapy vs. In-Person Therapy
Tele-health Platform, Training & Limitations
- Tele-Mental Health counseling is provided by our staff counselors via Zoom.
- Zoom is a HIPAA compliant platform
- Students will be provided with additional instructions to utilize Zoom when they schedule and more information can be found here:
- Counselors have researched and assessed best practices in relation to tele-counseling and tele-mental health services.
- All counselors have received specialized training to ensure this service best serves our students.
- Students outside of the State of Minnesota are not able to receive this service as most of our staff are only licensed in the State of Minnesota. We do have staff licensed in South Dakota and may be able to work with other states on a case by case basis.
- If there are students needing support outside of the state of Minnesota, we have two clinicians licensed in South Dakota. For all other state resources check out Thriving Campus or contact the Student Counseling office for additional resources
- Certain clinical concerns, such as suicidal ideation or other issues which require in-person assessment are not recommended for tele-health.
In-Person Expectations & Guidelines:
- Students will only keep their in-person appointments if they are symptom free of a fever, shortness of breath or a cough or have been exposed to someone who shows signs of COVID-19.
- At this time, the current recommendation by the Minnesota Department of Health is that Student Counseling is considered a "health care facility" therefore masking is still recommended in the lobby areas and back to your counselor’s office.
- Counselors have air purifiers located in their office and will maintain appropriate physical distancing.