Stress, depression, anxiety disorders, academic problems, relationship issues and test anxiety are among the most common reasons community colleges students seek counseling, according to a survey by the American College Counseling Association (ACCA) that included 67 community college counselors from 54 colleges.

 

Those are typical issues that counseling offices address, but the intensity of those issues have increased, according to college counselors. The Center for Counseling, Advising and Academic Support at LaGuardia Community College (LCC) in New York is among the two-year colleges that have seen that. It has observed an increase in the number of students seeking help who are depressed or with psychological issues, said Mitchell Levy, its executive director.

 

The downturn in the economy is partly to blame. It has prompted many dislocated workers to enroll at two-year colleges, and many of them—who have families to support and may be intimidated by going to college—are feeling stressed and seeking services, according to college counselors.

 

Another reason for the increase in students seeking counseling is that many colleges have improved efforts to make more students as well as faculty aware of such services.

 

The counseling office at Massachusetts Bay Community College (MBCC) has in recent years reached out to faculty to make them aware of the services it offers, as well as how to identify students who may be having issues, said Ann Whelan, a personal counselor and clinical supervisor at the college.

 

At LCC’s center, which is located in the college’s academic affairs department rather than in student affairs, counselors have developed close relationships with faculty, who are more comfortable referring students for counseling, Levy said.

 

According to the ACCA survey, most referrals to counseling offices come from faculty and instructors, disabilities services offices and academic advisors or advising offices, respectively.

 

Counselors are also seeing more requests for help from military veterans, who are increasingly enrolling at community colleges. Many soldiers transitioning to civilian life are suffering from cognitive disorders resulting from brain injuries and from psychological disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, Levy said.

 

 

Since most community colleges serve commuters and they don’t have students on campus all day, counseling offices generally keep regular business hours. The bulk of counseling office hours are during workday hours, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., though a few offer earlier hours and later hours, usually up to 8 p.m., according to the survey. A handful offer services on weekends to accommodate weekend classes.

 

Both MBCC and LCC have typical business hours, but they make their services available when needed. LCC’s center stays open until 7 p.m. twice a week, and Levy says he’s accessible after hours for cases he’s involved with. MBCC’s office occasionally stays open longer to accommodate working students, but many of them have some flexibility to come in during business hours, Whelan said.

 

According to the survey, 96 percent of participants said they don’t provide on-call crisis services for students, usually referring them to local emergency care services when the office is closed.

 

 

Brian Van Brunt, president-elect of ACCA and director of the Counseling and Testing Center at Western Kentucky University, said his organization is seeking to increase its community college members. At a growing number of two-year colleges, resources devoted to counseling are stretched thin, and counselors are seeking ideas to handle the increased workload and to better serve students, he said.

 

Counselors themselves are feeling overwhelmed and overworked, listing it as one of the top four issues affecting their services on the ACCA survey. In addition to providing counseling services for students, survey participants said they also provided career counseling (71 percent), psychoeducational programming (65 percent) and academic advising (55 percent), to name a few.