Students now have another place on campus where they can learnto deal with the minutia of daily life.
The new home of Counseling and Psychological Services offersexpanded workshops to help meet the emotional needs of NU students.The new location at 619 Emerson St. is right next door to SearleStudent Health Services. The building includes more counselingrooms, conference rooms for workshops, and a stress clinic.
Fall Quarter workshops include “Communicating with Confidence,””Sex and the University,” “From Shy to More Social” and “EmotionalIntelligence and Intimate Relationships.” Stress management clinicsalso will be offered repeatedly throughout the year on both theEvanston and Chicago campuses.
The Office of Student Affairs funded the new offices andadditional workshops.
“Students come to Northwestern with really strong academics andare taught very well here, but other things — such as dealing withself-esteem and stress — schools typically don’t cover,” saidPaulette Stronczek, coordinator of developmental programming forCAPS. “There’s no major for making yourself a healthierperson.”
Workshops are free for students and there is an option ofattending individual “coaching” sessions afterward. Attendance atthese workshops does not count toward the 12 CAPS sessions includedin tuition. Unlike CAPS group therapy sessions, students do notneed to meet with a therapist in order to attend the workshops.
Moving the workshops out of Searle is part of an effort todestigmatize the act of coming to CAPS, Stronczek said.
“No one has to be in crisis to come to the workshops,” Stronczeksaid. “Most people have experienced stress, relationship problemsand other issues these sessions deal with.”
The different workshop topics were chosen because they reflectthe most common problems among students who attend CAPS. Studentscontinually list stress as a top issue.
Because Northwestern attracts academically driven applicants,students seem to have a “stronger connection to their grades” thanat some other schools, Stronczek said.
The current workshop “Communicating with Confidence,” startsOct. 26 and runs through Nov. 16. To view the complete list ofworkshops and to sign up, go to the CAPS Web site atwww.northwestern.edu/counseling or call 847-491-2151.
Reach Diana Scholl at [email protected].
