Stress is one problem every college student is familiar with. Between classes, extracurricular activities, jobs and other aspects of college life, Truman State students know what it is like to be stressed out.
One University resource that helps students handle stress is University Counseling Services. UCS provides students with free or inexpensive services such as individual and group counseling.
Brenda Higgins, Student Health Center and Counseling Services Director, said stress is one reason why students use UCS. Higgins said counseling helps students determine the cause of their stress and how to manage it.
“Most of our students that come here are high-achieving students,” Higgins said. “We have a lot of Type A personalities, and when you put a lot of Type A personalities together, that creates stress. Stress is not always bad. Stress can motivate. It is when the stress becomes overwhelming that we like to think we can help students navigate through that.”
Higgins said UCS is distinctive because its five full-time counselors are trained to deal with issues pertaining to college students.
A student’s first two UCS visits are free, Higgins said. After that, she said each visit costs $10. For group counseling, she said there is a one-time $10 fee. She said these fees cannot be billed through insurance because they are such a low cost. However, if someone is unable to afford the $10 fee, Higgins said they still can attend counseling if they fill out a waiver in the UCS office.
Higgins said psychiatric services are more expensive than counseling. She said there is a psychiatrist who works part time at UCS, and the fees for psychiatric services are billed through insurance because the psychiatrist is a medical doctor. The rest of the UCS staff, while certified in counseling, are not medical doctors like a psychiatrist, Higgins said.
Any full- or part-time Truman student can use UCS services, Higgins said. She said faculty members cannot use the counseling services personally, but they can consult with someone at UCS about issues with a student or another faculty member.
To learn more about stress on campus, read the rest on Issuu.