Davidson Student Life - Student Support

Appointments	Confidentiality
Counseling Services	Emergencies
Ancillary Services	Staff

Are you...
Feeling Left Out? Worried About Your Weight? Having Problems With Dating? Feeling Grade Pressure? Having Problems With Family? Having Difficulties Understanding Your Feelings or Behavior? Stressed? Depressed? Having Study Problems? Feeling Out of Control? Experiencing Alcohol/Drug Problems? Feeling Overextended? Just Wanting To Talk?

To explore these and other questions, please contact the Student Counseling Center, located in the Student Health Facility (704-894-2451) at the corner of North Main and Glasgow.

Appointments
Appointments are available during regular Center hours, Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. These can be made by phoning 704-894-2451, or by visiting the Center. The Student Counseling Center is located in the Student Health Facility, at the corner of 514 North Main Street and Glasgow Street (entrance to residential section of campus). Counseling services are free to any student, up to 10 sessions per academic year.

Counseling Services
Davidson College students are entitled to as many as 10 individual sessions per academic year, at no charge. If more sessions are needed, arrangements can be made, depending on student need and resources. The service is actively utilized at Davidson: during the course of an academic year, about 20% of the student body at Davidson seeks one or more individual counseling sessions at the Student Counseling Center.

Problems addressed by students in counseling vary greatly. Many are situational in nature, such as roommate problems, academic stress, culture shock and adjustment to returning from study abroad, the death of a grandparent or other family member, and parents' divorce. Others center on academic functioning, including such issues as learning disabilities, study habits and time management. Other problems are more developmental, having to do with the stage of life in which students find themselves. These include such issues as homesickness and problems involved with leaving home and changing relationships with parents, values clarification, need to develop social skills or assertiveness, sexuality issues, premarital issues for couples. Some students have more serious psychological or behavioral problems. These might include depression, alcohol/drug abuse, anxiety and panic disorders, or eating disorders.

(Referral to a private practitioner or hospital can be made, if needed and desired. Although the Student Counseling Center does not have a psychiatrist on staff, arrangements have been made for a private psychiatrist to come to the SCC to see students, at their personal expense. Harold Elliott, M.D., who is an alumnus of Davidson College and is currently an adjunct faculty member at Wake Forest Behavioral Medicine Center, comes to our facility approximately bi-weekly, typically on Saturdays.)

The Student Counseling Center also provides group counseling and support groups as appropriate and sustained by student participation. For example, in the past, the Center has had an eating disorder support group and depression support groups.

Ancillary Services
The Student Counseling Center has available a number of books and audio tapes addressing a variety of relevant topics. These can be checked out by students at no charge.

The staff of the Student Counseling Center can administer and interpret a variety of psychological tests and inventories. These are utilized as an integrated part of the basic counseling service of the Center.

Confidentiality
The staff of the Student Counseling Center subscribes to the Ethical Standards of the American Psychological Association and to the professional laws of the State of North Carolina. Adherence to these standards ensures the confidentiality of all counseling and testing services. You can be assured that all discussions with your counselor are private and that no information about you can be shared with others without your written permission. The only exceptions to this rule are situations involving safety to self or others, or child/elder abuse. In such cases, the counselor acts on behalf of the client consistent with safety needs and State laws.

A student may want a counselor to speak with a professor, dean, family member, or someone else. This is gladly done with that student's written consent.

Emergencies
Student psychological emergencies which occur during office hours are handled promptly at the Student Counseling Center. When the Center is closed, a counselor is on-call, available by pager, for phone or face-to-face consultation/counseling during evenings, weekends, and holidays. The counselor-on-call can be reached by touch tone phone at 704-356-2118. (If you call this number, you will hear only a tone, the signal for you to touch tone in the number of the telephone where the counselor may call return your page.) Any member of the campus community, including family members of the students, can utilize this free service to address a student psychological emergency.

Staff
David Staton, Ph.D., Director/Licensed Psychologist
Charlotte Frazier, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist
Nance Longworth, MSRC, Counselor
Amanda Samson, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist

Georgia Ringle, M.P.H., Health/Substance Abuse Educator
Margie Ruch, Staff Assistant