Making the first appointment
Start with a brief phone or online screening, then a first session where a counselor listens, gets a picture of what is going on, and works out a plan with you — short-term individual counseling, a group, a referral, or a single consultation might be enough. It is included in your student fees. You do not need a diagnosis or a crisis to come.
What is confidential
What you say in counseling stays there. It is a separate record from your academic file, and nothing goes to professors, parents, or your transcript. The narrow legal exceptions — an imminent risk to your life or someone else’s, abuse of a minor or vulnerable adult, a court order — are explained in the first session.
The model and the wait
The center works in a short-term model: a set number of sessions aimed at a specific goal, with a warm handoff to a community provider for longer-term or specialized work. In busy stretches (midterms, late fall) the wait for a routine first appointment can be a week or two — which is why the faster options below exist.
When you need to talk sooner
Same-day urgent consultations are held every weekday for situations that cannot wait for a scheduled slot. "Let’s Talk" drop-in hours put you with a counselor for a brief, informal conversation, no appointment or paperwork — a good first step if you are unsure whether you "need" counseling.
After hours and emergencies
The 24-hour Student Support Line is (715) 555–0117 and is staffed by counselors, not a machine. For an immediate danger to yourself or someone else, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department; Campus Safety at (715) 555–0191 can help you get there.
Groups and workshops
Recurring groups and single-session workshops cover anxiety, grief, stress and sleep, relationships, identity, substance use, and adjusting to college. Group is not a lesser option — for a lot of what students bring in, it works as well as or better than individual sessions, and it is easier to get into.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. Every office, person, building, phone number and statistic on this page is invented; nothing here describes a real institution or a service you can actually contact.