Welcome to the St. Andrews Presbyterian College Counseling Center

          The Counseling Center is an office of the division of Student Affairs and provides counseling services to students. Counseling services are designed to help students address concerns that are relevant to their personal growth and development and that may be interfering with their ability to maximize their college experience. Problems typically addressed in counseling range from everyday problems experienced during college life to more serious mental health concerns and crisis intervention.   

Location/Contact information

The Counseling Center is located in the Student Health and Wellness Center, which is housed in Pate Hall. Counseling Center appointments are between 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Services are offered at no cost to students of the college. If you would like to contact our office to schedule an appointment or to speak with a staff member, call 910-277-5040.

About Counseling Services

Many students who have not received counseling services previously have concerns about entering a counseling relationship.  The information here is designed to help you know what you could expect from speaking with a counselor.

On your first visit to the Counseling Center, you will be asked to complete an intake form that requests background information about you that it would be helpful to the counselor working with you to know. You will also be provided information about the counselor, such as his/her theoretical orientation and counseling approach.

The first visit usually involves sitting down with a counselor to obtain an assessment of your issue and to develop a counseling plan to address your concerns. Subsequent visits target resolution of the presenting problem and the attainment of the goals established by you and your counselor.  Most concerns brought to the counseling center can be resolved in 8 to 10 sessions. Problems requiring more intensive resources are usually referred to off-campus mental health or substance abuse professionals. If so, you are responsible for the charges incurred in your work with outside agencies.

Crisis Services

The Counseling Center staff sees clients who experience a mental health crisis on a walk-in basis during center hours. The Counseling Center is not staffed on a 24-hour basis, and the Safety and Security office should be contacted after hours. The Safet and Security office will then determine the appropriate course of action and notify the appropriate campus staff persons. The contact number for the officer on duty is 910-280-2895. Mental health crisis services are also available on a 24/7 basis through the Southeastern Regional Mental Health Center’s Access-to-Care line. This number is 1-800-672-8255.

Confidentiality

Information that you share with a counselor is strictly confidential. No information will be released to anyone without your written consent. Legally mandated exceptions to this policy of confidentiality include instances of danger to self or others, or if you disclose knowledge of the abuse or neglect of a child or an elderly person. Counselors can be mandated by a court of law to breach confidentiality for sufficient legal cause.

For Parents

The Counseling Center staff is available for consultations with concerned parents either by phone or in person. Feel free to contact the counseling center to speak with a Counselor about any concerns that you have about your son or daughter.  The Counseling Center’s main phone number is 910-277-5040. 

Please understand that for any student age 18 or older strict limits of confidentiality apply.  The Counseling Center cannot confirm or deny that a student has been into our office without signed written permission from the student to release this information. The counselor can listen to your concerns and provide general information about how you might best help your student, and can provide information about other resources on campus that might be useful to your son or daughter.

When difficulties arise, students frequently turn first to their parents for advice and support. If you feel counseling services would be of benefit your son or daughter, please encourage your student to visit the Counseling Center. 

For Faculty and Staff

When you encounter a student that you feel would benefit from counseling services, please encourage the student to make an appointment with our office. It is helpful to remind students that counseling services are confidential, and that there is no record of a student’s visits to the Counseling Center housed in their academic records.

 If you have more urgent/immediate concerns about a student’s welfare, here are some things you can do:

*Pick up the phone and contact the counseling office for consultation – 277-5036.

You can also have the student call us from your office and schedule an appointment

*Accompany the student to the Counseling Center to make an appointment to see the Counselor. Appointments can be made available for same day services when needed. The Counseling Center is located within the Student Health and Wellness Center located in Pate Hall.

Counseling services are also available to employees of St. Andrews Presbyterian College through the Counseling Center.  If you would like to make an appointment to come in and discuss your needs, please contact the center at campus extension 5040. 

Outreach Services

Educational programs on a variety of topics can be provided by the Counseling Center. Residence halls, clubs, classes, and other campus organizations interested in providing counseling related information to their members are encouraged to contact the Counseling Center staff to discuss programming needs.

Self-Help and Wellness

The Counseling Center has resources available on numerous topics related to well-being, psychoeducational materials, and self-improvement information.  Please feel free to stop by our offices in Pate Hall and help yourself to brochures, pamphlets, and other literature. Free information on several topics of interest to students is also contained on the bulletin board outside the Disability Services offices in the LA building. 

Links/Related Resources

There is a wealth of excellent resource material available online to address a variety of topics. Click on the links below to access some of these sites. Please note that the information contained below is not meant to be a substitute for a consultation with a counseling professional.  Please contact our office at 910-277-5040 to schedule an appointment.

*American Association of Suicidology – www.suicidology.org

*National Institute of Mental Health – www.nimh.gov

*American Psychiatric Association –  www.psych.org

*Nationally Alliance for the Mentally Ill – www.nami.org

*National Association of Anorexia & Associated Disorders – www.anad.org

*National Institute on Drug Abuse – www.nida.nih.gov

*National Clearinghouse for Alcohol & Drug information – www.health.org

*Online Student Resources -- www.ulifeline.org

*Sexual Assault – www.rainn.org

*Sexual health & information – www.smartersex.org

*Asperger syndrome coalition of the US – www.asperger.org

Contact Us

Contact information is listed below for the Counseling Center. Please note that email is not a secure form of communication and we recommend telephone contact to schedule a face-to-face meeting for this reason.   

Carmen Lentz, LPC, NCC, DCC

Counseling Services Director

Phone: 910-277-5036

Email: lentzcs@sapc.edu

Wini Gay

Office Manager

Student Health and Wellness Center

Phone: 910-277-5040

Email: gayw@sapc.edu