When a Student May Need Counseling:
A Guide For Faculty & Staff
Some signs that indicate a student may be experiencing more stress than she/he can handle are:
- Marked decline in quality of course work, class participation, quality of papers or test results.
- Increased absence from class or failure to turn in work.
- Chronic fatigue and low energy.
- Attention and memory difficulties.
- Low self-esteem and prolonged depression, suggested by a
sad expression, apathy, weight loss, sleep difficulties, or tearfulness.
- Nervousness, agitation, excessive worry, irritability and sudden outbursts of anger, threats of harming others, aggressiveness, or nonstop talking.
- Abrupt or radical changes in behavior or bizarre behavior, speech, writing, or thinking.
- Abnormal eating or exercise behaviors.
- Alcohol and other drug abuse.
- Isolation from others.
- Extreme dependency on faculty, staff, or Community Leader, including spending much of his/her spare time visiting during office hours or at other times.
- Marked change in personal hygiene.
- Talk of suicide, either directly or indirectly, such as “I won’t be around to take that exam anyway” or “I’m not worried about getting a job, I won’t need one.”
Examples of issues that often prompt referral to a counselor include the following:
- Social/personal concerns, Career choices/selecting a major
- Stress, Depression, General anxiety
- Identity development/individuation
- Substance abuse, Sexual assault
- Relationship concerns, Racial/cultural adjustments
- Extreme test anxiety, Grief/loss (including loss of a romantic relationship)
