Consultation:

The SCS staff offers clinical consultation to concerned Miami University faculty, staff and students working with emotional concerns of our students. Students may request consultation for oneself or regarding best practices to help others for whom you may be responsible. When seeking consultation in urgent situations, please work first to ensure that the student is physically safe, by calling Miami University Police at (513) 529-2222, or Oxford City Police at 911 for help when there is an immediate risk to health or safety. Miami University Police can help you to consult with an on-call counselor during non-working hours (after 5 PM and weekends) for emergency situations only. Students in the residence halls seeking such help should first consult with Office of Residence Life staff (your FYA, RA, etc.) and allow them to take the lead in the situation. In less urgent situations, please call the SCS during working hours to schedule a phone or in-person consultation with an available staff counselor.

Informational Consultation and Interviews:

Students, faculty and staff sometimes find that they would benefit from obtaining more information regarding psychological topics frequently dealt with at the SCS, such as body image concerns, panic attacks, or use and abuse of alcohol, for example. Students sometimes request interviews to learn more about the helping professions and training in psychological services.

When seeking general information about a psychological concern, please first consult Student Counseling Mental Health Topics for access to selected links providing extensive information on most common psychological concerns.

If you are unable to find the information you are seeking on our webpage, informational brochures on some common topics are available at the reception desk. Contact the SCS for more information on what brochures are available.

Finally, the staff at SCS will respond directly to informational requests whenever possible. (Please understand that clinical and critical consultation issues take precedence during busy times of the semester.) We ask for a minimum of one week’s notice when you make informational requests for student academic papers, newspaper columns and articles for academic purposes, to create bulletin boards, and for other general informational and academic purposes. At certain high-demand times of the academic year (e.g., the latter weeks of the semester), SCS staff may not be available to respond to these consultation requests due to urgency of clinical demand for staff time. We will then refer you to other helpful sources to obtain the requested information.