Individual Counseling

Personal counseling gives you the opportunity to speak with a counseling professional who can help you build on your strengths and learn new skills to help you overcome problems and maximize your experience at Tufts University.

Counselors are available to discuss all personal and academic concerns with students. These may include, but are not limited to, the following common issues:

• Coping with stress
• Relationships with others
• Family concerns
• Loss and bereavement
• Decision making
• Eating and body image concerns
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Sexuality

At your Intake appointment, you and your counselor will review the concerns you came in to discuss, and will consider these in light of your personal history and life experiences. Often, the opportunity at the Intake appointment, to sit down with a supportive listener and discuss what is troubling you, provides enough perspective that you may feel you don't need to continue with a professional beyond that meeting. If you do wish to continue, you and your counselor will be able to assess whether CMHS can meet your needs, or if referral to another agency would be more appropriate.

CMHS offers brief, focused counseling, generally from one or two sessions up to about a semester. Students who have more complex or in-depth counseling needs will be assisted with referrals to practitioners in the community. In rare cases, where community referral is not possible, exceptions to brief treatment may possibly occur. These decisions are made on a case-by-case basis by the CMHS staff and director.