Services Offered

University Counseling Services (UCS) is committed to providing a range of services intended to help currently enrolled DePaul students remove barriers to academic and personal success by addressing emotional, psychological and interpersonal concerns.

UCS provides group counseling, personal growth-oriented workshops, time-limited individual psychological counseling, psychiatric evaluation and crisis management services.  Sometimes a skill-building workshop or small group counseling experience is the most effective intervention given a student’s presenting concerns.

UCS has a diverse, caring, and competent professional staff that works from a variety of theoretical perspectives.  Some students find that talking to a counselor once is sufficient to resolve their immediate concern.  Our counselors can help you in a variety of ways because they are excellent sounding boards, compassionate listeners, and skillful experts in the problems of living.  If further services would be beneficial, these will be discussed and recommendations will be made by the counselor.

UCS offers primarily short-term counseling, but we do provide referrals to the community when students could benefit from longer term services.

Making an Initial Consultation Appointment

Initial telephone consultation appointments are typically made on a same-day basis by calling University Counseling Services:  312.362.6923 for the Loop Campus office; and 773.325.7779 for the Lincoln Park Campus office.  A member of the counseling services team will talk with you for about 10-15 minutes about some of the reasons you scheduled the appointment to determine the type of service needed.

Psychiatric Evaluation

UCS employs a consulting psychiatrist who conducts evaluations, medication management and linkage to community services.  Students must be referred to the psychiatrist by their counselor.  UCS does not provide "medication-only" treatments, but will help you access quality providers in the community if you are looking for medication management only.

Referrals for Private Therapy

If concerns exceed the scope of UCS’ short term counseling focus, or if recommended resources are not available within the University, your counselor will refer you to private therapy or other appropriate community mental health resources.  Examples of this include circumstances in which longer-term, more intensive, or more specialized treatment are indicated.  Off-campus referrals are usually made when use of services begin to exceed UCS’s brief treatment framework.  UCS has relationships with mental health treatment providers in the local community who provide high quality services to DePaul students. The cost of such therapy is not included in your student fees. Student Health Insurance, or other comparable health insurance plans may reimburse part of the cost of private therapy.  Your counselor will discuss additional options to help defray costs if a referral for private therapy is made.

Full-time and part-time DePaul students currently registered and enrolled in a degree program are eligible for counseling services.  Services include: individual, group, and couple’s counseling; psychiatric evaluation and medication management; crisis intervention; and referrals to community providers and agencies.

UCS strives to help students successfully make important transitions, such as: starting college; living away from home for the first time; transferring from another school to DePaul; returning to college after a time away from school; adjusting after a major life event or trauma (e.g., international travel or new cultural experience, parental divorce, illness or death; an assault or accident), and preparing to move from college to the work force.  UCS also provides consultation, assessment and referral, and conducts a wide variety of workshops for the DePaul community.

Clients include a diverse population of students of varying ages and ethnicities, who present with a wide variety of situations and concerns, including:

What Happens in Counseling?

After the initial session, your counselor will help you define what you would like to gain from the counseling experience.  After the assessment, your counselor will work with you to develop a plan to help you meet your particular goals.