When you call the center to see a counselor you will first talk with the secretary. The first thing that we ask is if you are a student. We do this because occasionally staff call for an appointment and there are services on campus specifically for staff and faculty so we put them in touch with the Staff Faculty Consultation Center. The secretary will also ask if there is someone on staff in particular who you would like to see. Sometimes students attend a workshop and see a psychologist they might want to work with or sometimes a friend has suggested someone. If you don't have a preference for who you will see you will be given the first available appointment time that matches with your schedule. Usually a student is scheduled for the next day or sometimes a day or two after that depending on their schedule. If a student is in need of immediate help they are seen right away. The secretary will then ask you to come in about 5 min. before your scheduled time so you can fill out an information sheet. This sheet asks the usual questions about name etc. and how we can reach you should an appointment need to be rescheduled. There's also a sheet on confidentiality which explains the services we provide and the limits of confidentially. Most students' comments about these forms: "it's all pretty standard, no problem".

When you first meet with a psychologist he or she will ask you about the reasons you have come in. Basically, in addition to getting to know you, they're trying to understand what's going on for you and how they can be helpful. Sometimes students feel helped by just telling someone what is going on and having someone understand. Sometimes students need more time to figure out what the problem is or need more support then just a session or two can provide. How long you will continue to come to the center will be something that you and the person you are working with will figure out depending on your needs. Unlike other schools we don't have a predetermined or set number of sessions a student can be seen. You may wonder how many students come to the Counseling Center and the reasons they do. This is a frequently asked question of the Counseling Center.

You may have noticed that I call the counselors here at the center psychologists and that's because our staff are all Ph.D. level licensed psychologists. We also have two pre-doctoral interns who are typically in their last year of their Ph.D. program.  We also have a Health Educator.  For more information about the Health Educator click on the link. For many people the term "counselor" conjures up ideas of their high school guidance counselor, (for better or worse) or someone who's only purpose is to listen patiently but doesn't provide much more than that. Psychologists are different because we typically have more advanced training ,we are licensed to do what we do, and we have legal requirements to ensure confidentiality. What does this mean for you? What this means is that you will receive the best help possible from highly trained individuals who know about Caltech and keep what you have to say confidential. For a more complete description of the parameters of confidentiality you can go to the section entitled "confidentiality".