UDCC Policies
Below you will find details of policies that most impact the work of the Counseling Center. For questions about these or other policies/procedures at the Counseling Center, please call 937-229-3141 or email counselingcenter@udayton.edu.
The University of Dayton’s Counseling Center offers support through a Catholic and Marianist framework, aiming to ensure that all students, across various identities, backgrounds, and experiences feel welcome to utilize our confidential services. Services are available at no additional cost to matriculating undergraduate students, graduate students with an assistantship and students in the law school, Lalanne, and physician assistant programs. Therapy and psychiatric records are stored securely through the Counseling Center and are not a part of a student’s educational record.
As a Comprehensive Counseling Center, we provide many services to our Flyer community. Services include individual therapy, group therapy, emergency, and psychiatric services for students actively engaged with our Center. In addition, we offer outreach, consultations for students, faculty, staff, and parents, seminars to teach research-based coping strategies, and debriefing support following tragedies. We aim to balance offering a variety of services along with emergency same-day support.
Our hope is students form a strong working relationship with their therapist. Students who actively engage in sessions will likely experience the greatest improvement in overall emotional well-being, confidence in their ability to successfully navigate life struggles, healthy relationship functioning, and identity development. Students can expect to learn helpful coping skills when visiting the Counseling Center.
Individual therapy provided by the Counseling Center is most frequently either short-term, or intermittent (e.g., visiting the center once or twice a month or several times a semester) in nature. It is our intention to meet the needs of our Flyer community, but sometimes that means helping students find local resources when the need is beyond what we can provide. For example, students who are in need of non-emergency weekly therapy, case management, psychoeducational testing, or intensive outpatient therapy would likely exceed the Counseling Center's capacity and can request a referral. The Counseling Center has the sole discretion to determine when student needs exceed the services they can provide.
We are proud to be part of UD’s Step Care Model. We often connect students to campus partners to help students enhance their emotional well-being, further academic success and increase life satisfaction. We partner with Student Development, all members of our campus community, and professionals in the greater Dayton area in suicide prevention.
If you have any questions regarding our Scope of Care or services available through the Counseling Center, please call us directly: 937-229-3141. We look forward to serving you and hope that you will have a welcoming experience! We are grateful to support you on your journey.
All services at the Counseling Center are completely confidential. This means that we will not share any information about the services you receive -- including whether you have ever been a client with us -- unless you have given written permission for us to release information to a specific person. Your UDCC record is kept completely separate from any academic record you have at UD.
Exceptions to confidentiality may include:
- Instances where you are at immediate risk of harming yourself or someone else
- In the case of legal requirements, such as a court order
- If a student discloses current child, elder, or animal abuse, which must be reported to CPS/APS/ARC.
- In other instances as required by law (e.g. an Ohio law mandates the reporting of any hazing incidents)
Academic & Housing Accommodations
The Counseling Center works with students and the Office of Learning Resources (OLR) to assist students in accessing accommodations to increase academic success when a mental health concern significantly impacts functioning. A request for accommodations begins with OLR and students can choose to sign a release of information which would allow their ongoing therapist at the Counseling Center to submit documentation related to the requested accommodations.
ADHD Accommodations
A diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) requires more extensive psychoeducational testing than the Counseling Center provides. The UD Counseling Center has a list of providers in the Dayton area who offer testing for ADHD. Please call the Counseling Center (937-229-3141) for a list of those providers. It is also suggested to check with your health insurance company to see whether they cover psychoeducational testing and which providers they cover in the area. Please note that many providers in the Dayton area are scheduling out several months for ADHD assessment appointment.
Emotional Support Animal Accommodations
An emotional support animal (ESA) is an animal that provides comfort to an individual with a disability upon the recommendation of a mental health professional and alleviates one or more identifiable symptoms or effects of a person’s disability, when the need for such an animal has been established.
More Information about ESAs: An ESA's role is to alleviate symptoms of a disability in order to provide equal opportunities to use and enjoy housing. The regulations permitting ESAs pertain only to places of residence or “dwelling” and does not include the right to have an ESA accompany someone outside of their residence (e.g., class or work). Individuals with ESAs are expected to honor state law and county or city ordinances related to animals. Animals are not required to have special training to be used as an ESA. An ESA is distinctly different from a Service Animal (for more information, see the Americans with Disabilities Act).
The UD Counseling Center is unable to conduct the necessary assessment to verify if a student would benefit from an ESA. Doing so requires additional certification on the part of the provider, and at this time, no providers at UDCC are certified to provide this documentation. If you are interested in seeking an evaluation for an ESA, we recommend you call your health insurance company for a list of covered mental health professionals who may offer this type of evaluation. Those interested in seeking an evaluation for the potential use of an ESA will likely be required to demonstrate:
- You are currently seeking ongoing mental health treatment
- You have been diagnosed with a DSM-5 psychiatric disability
- This disability substantially limits at least one major life activity
- There is a clear connection between the psychological symptoms and the use of an ESA to alleviate these symptoms
The UDCC is able to offer telebehavioral health services via a HIPAA secured Zoom platform. Telebehavioral health services may not be appropriate or the best choice of service for reasons including, but not limited to: heightened risk of harm to oneself or others; lack of access to, or difficulty with, communication technology; significant communication service disruptions; or need for more intensive services. In these cases, your therapist will help you establish referrals to the appropriate services.
In your initial meeting with the therapist, you will discuss your preferences regarding remote or in-person services. If you wish to receive services via Zoom, your therapist will discuss risks and benefits with you. Please note, telebehavioral health services may not be appropriate for all mental health concerns. Your therapist will discuss their recommendations with you in the initial appointment.
In addition, after starting telebehavioral health services your therapist may determine, due to certain circumstances, that telebehavioral services are no longer appropriate and will request you to resume in person sessions or be referred to someone in your community.
Important Considerations
- Receiving services via telebehavioral health can sometimes be challenging. You may have disruptions or delays due to the internet connection and technology used.
- It is critical that you use a secure internet connection rather than public/free Wi-Fi. Public wi-fi presents additional security risks and must not be used for telebehavioral health services.
- It is critical that you have a private space to use for sessions. Your therapist may terminate the session if there are others in the room, or if they have concerns about the privacy of your conversation. This would include roommates, parents, significant others, caretakers, and friends. If you are unable to locate a private space for sessions, in-person services will be recommended.
- You must be willing to use the camera feature for telebehavioral health. Therapists will not start or continue a therapy session for telebehavioral health unless they can make visual contact with you.
- You and your therapist will discuss a backup plan in case of technology failure. The most reliable backup is a phone. Therefore, it is recommended that you always have a phone available. If you get disconnected from a telebehavioral health session, end and restart the session. If you are unable to reconnect within five minutes, you agree (unless you request otherwise) that your provider can call you on the phone number you listed on the client information form.
- In order to receive telebehavioral health services, you will be required to provide your current physical location and an emergency contact at each session. Per state law, the UDCC therapists cannot provide clinical services outside of the state of Ohio. If you are planning to be out of state for any reason during a session, please reschedule your appointment.
- You must agree not to record any part of your session with your therapist, nor will your therapist record your session. Trainees who are under the supervision of a licensed therapist will always obtain your consent before recording. Those recordings will be used for clinical supervision purposes only. If the UDCC discovers that you have been recording any part of the sessions (group or individual) your treatment may be terminated at the center and you will be referred to a community provider.