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Parent Services
Welcome to the GW University Counseling Center's Parent homepage. This page is designed to provide guidance for the most often asked questions and concerns we hear from parents in their quest to understand and prepare for their children’s college years.
College is a significant transition time for your son or daughter... and for you. We hope the following links will provide you with valuable information about the UCC and other helpful resources, as well give you the knowledge that you are not alone in your questions, concerns, feelings, and thoughts during this period of adjustment and change.
Understanding the Transition to College
What your child may experience:
For your son or daughter, college will likely be a period of intellectual stimulation and growth, career exploration and development, increased autonomy, self-exploration and discovery, and social involvement.
Some points to consider:
- Trust in your child’s ability to be successful; encourage your child to grow in all dimensions of college life.
- Provide only the support they need; use the adage, “Don’t do anything for someone that they can do for themselves”. Encourage self-reliance; it builds self-confidence, self-efficacy, and personal responsibility.
- Encourage your child to use campus resources; there is help at GW for nearly every problem or circumstance that your child will face.
- Remain open to learning new things about your child; his/her growth is an opportunity for you to grow as well. Trust that whatever values and lessons that you instilled in them are still there (somewhere!).
- Help them to separate from home; encourage them to get involved in and focus on campus life.
What parents may experience:
Often overlooked is the fact that the college experience is also a significant transition for parents. As parents, you may experience happiness, excitement, and pride when your child leaves for college. At the same time, you may feel some sadness, fear, and concern about your child's future and well-being. You can expect to feel a variety of emotions.
How you can support yourself:
Allow yourself to feel whatever emotions arise during this period of adjustment; develop and maintain your support systems.
- Maintain or build your sense of well-being. Fill more of your time with activities devoted to self-care; you deserve it!
- Use campus resources, especially GW Parent Services, to obtain information that you want and need to support your child.
UCC Services
The University Counseling Center offers a variety of services to enhance your child's academic success and emotional well-being.
We provide:
Short-term individual counseling
Group Counseling
Crisis response services
Alcohol and drug screening
Educational workshops for personal, academic, and career success
Career testing and counseling
Community mental health referrals
Web-based self-help materials and links to a variety of on-line resources, including podcasts and online mental health screenings
For a more detailed description of each of these services, please return to the UCC homepage and click on the appropriate links.
When might counseling be appropriate for your child?
Students seek counseling for many reasons including, but not limited to the following: loneliness and adjustment issues; concerns about career choice and/or academic performance; family stress such as a family loss, divorce, or alcoholism; emotional difficulties such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, alcohol and drug problems, self-esteem, or suicidal feelings; interpersonal conflict or isolation, and much more.
Students may be seen at the UCC or referred for other psychological or psychiatric services depending on the nature of their presenting issues. If we are working with your son or daughter at the UCC and they need psychiatric evaluation/short-term medication management, we often refer them to GW Student Health Service (SHS) and collaborate with the psychiatrists there for optimal outcomes.
Setting up an appointment
We prefer that your son or daughter call the UCC to schedule his or her own appointment. We have found that they know their schedule best and that they are more likely to keep their appointment if they have scheduled it. A UCC staff member can talk with you about ways to encourage your student to schedule an appointment and how to talk to him or her about counseling.
Paying for counseling services
The UCC asks that students pay for counseling sessions at the time services are received. We suggest that you discuss payment for services with your child. We accept all forms of payment, including GWorld card.
Insurance coverage for counseling services
The UCC does not bill any insurance companies for services and we are not considered providers on any insurance panels. Sometimes parents have received reimbursements for services. We can assist you by providing a paid statement for submission. Often our fee is lower than the insurance company's required co-pay, so you might want to investigate mental health benefits of your insurance plan prior to submitting statements.
Click on Mental Health Insurance Coverage for assistance with investigating your child's mental health benefits.
Click here for the full array of UCC service descriptions and offerings.
How the UCC can help parents
Call-A-Counselor service
We invite parents to call the UCC to speak with the Counselor-on-Call if they have any questions about our services or if they are wondering how to assist a son or daughter struggling with a particular issue. We can also provide parents with referrals to counseling services outside the University. Please call our UCC 24/7 at (202)994-5300. Counselors are in the office Monday - Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. After hours, you can reach a mental health professional by calling our office and pressing option #3 when prompted.
What does confidentiality mean for parents?
Confidentiality is essential to the counseling relationship we establish and maintain with students who seek our services. Without your child’s written consent we can not confirm or deny that a student has come to the UCC for a counseling session or disclose the name of their counselor. If you believe it is important to talk to your child’s counselor, we encourage you to talk to your child about your concern and ask them to sign a release of information form at the UCC. You may also contact the Counselor-on-Call to share your concerns or to obtain general information about a given mental health issue. In life-threatening circumstances including suicidal or homicidal threat or any circumstances requiring emergency services and/or evaluation of your child, you will be notified by a school official, assuming that we have accurate information to reach you and that you are available to be reached.
Helpful mental health links and resources
Below are several links to informative websites that you might find helpful:
Campus Resources:
Active Minds: http://www.activemindsoncampus.org/
GW Parent Services Office: http://gwired.gwu.edu/parents
On-Line Resources:
U.S. Dept. of Education's Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention
Alcohol, Other Drugs, and College: A Parent's Guide
APA Help Center
http://apahelpcenter.org/
College- New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/college/index.html
National membership association that helps parents "prepare and put their children through college easily, economically and safely."
College Parents of America (CPA)
National Resource Center for First-Year Experience and Students in Transition
http://www.sc.edu/fye/
Mental Health America Resource Center
http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/go/information/faqs
National Alliance on Mental Illness
http://nami.org/
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
National Institute on Drug Abuse
http://www.drugabuse.gov/
On-line pamphlets on mental health topics
http://www.dr-bob.org/vpc/
On-Line resource for college mental health
http://ulifeline.org/main/Home.html
PFLAG (Parents, Families, Friends of Lesbians and Gays)
http://community.pflag.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?pid=194&srcid=-2
Partnership for a Drug Free America
http://www.drugfree.org/
Screening for College Mental Health Concerns
http://www.mentalhealthscreening.org/index.aspx
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