Northern Arizona University

Over the past year, the Counseling Center has received considerable assistance from staff and faculty within the NAU community -- from instructors and NAU employees who have been concerned about individual students who may have appeared troubled. At the Counseling Center, we appreciate the many ways in which NAU employees have served as helpful intermediaries between distressed students and those of us who are psychologists and counselors.

In addition to expressing our appreciation, we want to describe the ways in which you, as an NAU employee, can assist a student.

There are three ways you might serve as an intermediary for a student whose behavior or mood concerns you:

1. You could express your concern to the student and suggest that the student either call or go to the Counseling Center to connect with a counselor.

2. You could express your willingness to accompany the student to the Counseling Center to help him or her make an appointment.

3. You could call the Center at (928) 523-2261 and discuss your concerns with a counselor. In this telephone consultation, the counselor can help assess the situation and make recommendations for the next steps.

If you become aware of a psychological emergency, or if a crisis involving a student arises after regular business hours or on a weekend, a counselor can be contacted by calling the Counseling Center's answering service at (928) 523-2261 and requesting contact with the Emergency Counselor.

A few words about confidentiality: As licensed psychologists, certified counselors and their supervisees, we are constrained, by law and ethical guidelines, from sharing information concerning students who receive services at the Counseling Center. Therefore, we cannot respond to request for information such as: "What is the problem with [student's name]?" We are, however, able to listen to your concerns about a student; and we will try to respond to questions of a general nature, such as: "I have a disruptive student in my class. What do you suggest?"

By continuing to work together we can intervene successfully on behalf of students who are experiencing emotional difficulties by assisting those students and the concerned NAU employees to take steps to help.