Counseling is a unique, confidential, and collaborative relationship between a trained helper and a person seeking help in which both the skills of the helper and the atmosphere created assist people with learning to relate to themselves and others in healthier ways.

Although you may handle many things on your own, sometimes a little outside help or a different and more objective point of view can help you with putting your problems in perspective and handling them more effectively.

Individual, couple, and group counseling are available to help students with personal, academic, and career concerns. Students coming to the Office of Counseling Services are usually seeking more effective and rewarding lives by confronting personal problems, career questions, skill development issues, or value questions.

Counseling is not only for people with "problems." Many people, including highly successful ones, find significant benefits in counseling. These benefits include increasing self-awareness, maximizing potential, and making the overall college experience more productive and meaningful.

The Office of Counseling Services is starting a Student Organization Chapter at ODU called Active Minds (www.activeminds.org ). If you’re unfamiliar with Active Minds, here are some highlights about the organization!

Active Minds’ goal is to help students become emotionally healthy before they reach the point of crisis. This includes:

• Empowering students to speak openly about mental health in order to educate others
• Supporting students in making lifestyle changes that promotes sound mental health
• Encouraging students to seek help when they need it
• Providing information, leadership opportunities and advocacy tools

Active Minds is recognized as the leading voice of Student Advocacy in Mental Health and we would love to work with you in reducing Mental Health Stigma on campus!  All majors are welcome!  You don't have to be a human services, psychology, or counseling major to advocate for mental health on campus!  We are looking to have an interest meeting in a couple of weeks.  Contact JaNaé Taylor at j1taylor@odu.edu if you're interested and we will be in touch to schedule an interest meeting.

Active Minds Flyer