Outreach
Counseling Center counselors and counselor trainees often present workshops or educational
programs on campus. In the past, topics have included:
- Coping with Stress
- Communicating More Effectively
- Dealing with Differences
- Coping with Eating and Body Image Concerns
- How to Help a Student in Distress
WCU Outreach Mission Statement
Outreach services are an integral part of the activities conducted in the Department
of Counseling and Psychological Services. Our outreach services aim to serve the campus
community as a whole by extending our clinical and educational services beyond the
walls of the Counseling Center. We offer a variety of outreach services to the university
community with the goal of creating and maintaining a healthy, psychologically-minded
student population. Our outreach services allow the provision of deliberate, systematic,
and creative psycho-educational programming with a multicultural and developmental
perspective on prevention, wellness, and student self-help. Such efforts allow us
to work collaboratively with students, staff, and faculty across campus to ensure
student engagement and success.
Our programming is geared towards providing:
- Support
- We are able to come to classes or be present at events and meetings, etc. in order
to provide support and care to the WCU Community. We also have our Dog Therapy Program
- which is a team of certified therapy dogs that visit campus on a regular basis.
Also, upon request and with sufficient advance notice, our therapy dogs can be present
at other campus events/programs.
- Education
- We are able to provide workshops to classes, organizations, meetings, and events.
Examples of workshop topics we have presented include stress management, improving
communication, resiliency building, and conflict resolution.
- For Faculty and Staff, we offer WCU Cares training. WCU Cares is a gatekeeper training
program that teaches others how to: (1.) Recognize warning signs and risk factors
of distress and suicide; (2.) Assess the level of risk for someone in distress/crisis;
(3.) Ask someone if they are thinking of suicide; and (4.) Refer someone to the appropriate
resources. Suicide prevention is a community responsibility — the more we know and
can look out for one another, the safer the community becomes.
- Advocacy
- The Counseling Center works to promote mental health services, both on campus and
in the WC community, along with raising awareness on mental health issues and reducing
stigma. Some examples of our advocacy work: Our annual "Checkup From the Neck Up"
Week and Screening Day, attending classes to speak about our services and mental health,
participating programs and initiatives on campus, etc. We are happy to collaborate
with other offices, groups, and organizations on promoting mental health awareness
and advocacy.
Outreach requests are available to students, faculty, and staff with sufficient notice
(at least two weeks). While we do our best to accommodate as many requests as possible,
there are times when the volume and timing of requests is simply more than we can
meet, given other clinical demands.
You can submit outreach requests here: https://form.jotform.com/220254985831056 .
For questions about outreach programs you can contact: CCoutreach@wcupa.edu
Rationale for this Project:
With college student distress on the rise, we believe that educating students on how
to build resiliency to better cope with life’s struggles is more important than ever.
One of the major ways to build resiliency is by building stronger social connections.
With the prevalence of social media and the recent impact of the pandemic, students
are prone to feeling isolated, and can falsely believe that no one else is struggling.
This adds SHAME to our experience, because we can feel like something is “wrong”
with us if we are struggling. We aim to help students realize that they are NOT ALONE.
We want to show students how to connect by being OPEN and VULNERABLE about their
struggles. Vulnerability can build connections that are more AUTHENTIC and SUPPORTIVE.
Purpose of the Project:
Foster resilience, well-being and belongingness at West Chester University through
shared humanity, vulnerability and meaningful connections
Goals of the Project:
Help students build meaningful connections with each other
Normalize struggle and the need for support
Provide education on how our shared humanity/vulnerability can build resilience
Teach skills to help students cope with challenges while validating them
Be on the look out for our programs such as Dine & Discuss, Speed Connecting, & Preparing
your Emotional Stormkit around campus. Follow us on Instagram for updates: @WCUCounselingCenter
We are also able to come to your classroom, program, event and do this programming.
Reach out to Dr. Stephanie Sibley for more information or with questions.
Inspirational & Informative TED Talks
(The messages of the talks generally align with the Humanity & Resilience Project)
Dog Therapy Schedule
Dog Therapy Requests:
If you would like to arrange to have therapy dogs attend an event that your organization
or group is hosting for WCU students, please submit a request here: https://form.jotform.com/220254985831056. The therapy dogs and their humans are volunteers from the community that have completed
trainings and certifications to be on campus supporting students. Please give at least
two weeks notice for any therapy dog requests so that we have time to contact volunteers.
We do our best to meet all outreach requests, but because the therapy dogs book up
quickly and already have PR commitments with us, requests will be filled when possible!
If you are interested in joining our volunteer program with your dog or you have any
questions about the therapy dog program, please contact our outreach coordinator (CCoutreach@wcupa.edu)
or call the front desk at 610-432-2301.