UCOSA votes to fund counseling center

The UCO Student Association is allocating $100,000 to the Center for Counseling and Well-Being to fund two additional clinicians to assist students. 

Julia Reed, director of the Center for Counseling and Well-Being, attended UCOSA’s weekly Congress to address the senators. Senators brought forth student concerns, including long wait times to be seen for initial appointments.

According to Reed, there should currently be 11 clinicians available to students. At the moment, there are only seven. Reed said that more students are utilizing the CCWB since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to longer wait times to meet with all students. 

One senator asked how the CCWB addressed students’ issues. The senator mentioned that students had shared stories of going to the CCWB and being referred out or referred to group therapies. 

The CCWB currently uses a stepped care model, which Reed said is becoming more common at colleges and universities as it allows more students to access therapy resources more quickly. 

“Part of that [model] is an initial session that is really not as much of an intake as you might do if you went to therapy out in the real world,” Reed said. “So that first session is really what we call a solution-focused session, where we’re going to try to explore your problem solving capabilities and what’s happening now.” 

UCOSA is also creating a special committee to continue evaluating the situation. 

“We know that students have concerns and we want to make sure all of them are heard and addressed,” said Josh Chao, chair of Congress. ”We are going to be forming a special committee focused on continuing to seek out student feedback, promoting the CCWB, and getting the word out about the changes that are made.”