DBU's Counseling Center Scope of Care

Sign-Up Process

Upon completion of the sign-up form, students will be contacted by staff who will work to assign them to a counselor based upon availability. The counselor will then assess if the student’s needs will be best met at the Counseling Center, through another service provided by DBU, or an outside mental health facility. The Counseling Center provides quality care for a variety of mental health issues; however, some intensive or ongoing needs will be best served through a referral to the Dallas community.

Goal of Service

The Counseling Center aims to build collaborative relationships between client and counselor by setting attainable goals together. Setting specific and measurable goals allows the counseling process to remain streamlined and provide clarity when the set goals have been reached. Currently, the Counseling Center provides individual, premarital, couple, and group sessions. There is not a current limit on how many sessions an individual may have, however the counselor will aid the client in determining when goals have been reached and it’s in the client’s best interest to move forward from the counseling process.

Scope of Care

The Counseling Center provides care for a number of issues including, but not limited to:

  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Identity
  • Self-Esteem
  • Academic concerns
  • Trauma or abuse
  • Eating concerns
  • Relational issues
  • Grief and loss
  • Mild or moderate substance abuse

Needs Outside Scope of Care

Situations in which the Counseling Center will likely refer clients to outside services include:

  • Medication evaluation
  • Chronic suicidality/frequent self-harm
  • Chronic or severe substance abuse
  • Recent or multiple inpatient treatment(s)
  • Severe eating disorder
  • Psychotic symptoms without medical stabilization
  • Students whose needs require intensive or frequent crisis intervention
  • Clinical presentations that indicate short-term counseling may be ineffective or harmful

The Counseling Center may not be able to provide services to/for the following:

  • Clients demonstrating inability or little to no desire to participate in the therapeutic process, complete homework, or be compliant
  • Inconsistent attendance
  • Client is receiving treatment from a different mental health professional
  • Assessment and documentation for emotional support animals
  • Neuropsychological evaluations
  • Fitness-for-duty evaluations
  • Mandated treatment, such as counseling ordered for substance abuse, alcohol education, domestic violence, etc.

Confidentiality

The Counseling Center complies with state and federal laws regulating confidentiality as well as professional ethical codes. Information about your appointments at the Counseling Center is confidential and cannot be disclosed to others without your written consent, except as outlined below in the Limits of Confidentiality section. Any information about your appointments at the Counseling Center will not be part of your academic record.

The Counseling Center will take all reasonable precautions to keep your communications private, but we cannot guarantee that your email will remain confidential. Despite reasonable efforts on the part of the staff, the transmission of information could be disrupted by technical failures, or by unauthorized persons.

If you are concerned in any way about the content of your email being read by someone other than the person you are contacting, you should rely on alternate ways of communicating with the Counseling Center. You should also be aware that counselors may not be able to read or respond to your email in a timely fashion; therefore, email is not encouraged as a primary way of communicating clinical information, especially in the case of emergencies.

Limits of Confidentiality

There are some exceptions to confidentiality, including:

  • Child Abuse: If your counselor has reasonable cause to believe a child may be an abused/neglected child, your counselor must report this belief in accordance with the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act.
  • Elder Abuse: If your counselor has reason to believe that an individual has been abused, neglected, or financially exploited, they must report this belief in accordance with Texas law.
  • Disabled Persons: If your counselor has reasonable cause to believe a disabled person has been abused, they must report this belief in accordance with Texas law.
  • Serious Threat to Health or Safety: If your counselor believes that you present an imminent, serious risk of physical or mental injury, or death to yourself, your counselor may make disclosures necessary to protect you from harm.
  • If you disclose that you have been sexually abused while currently enrolled as a DBU student, an anonymous report using no identifying information must be made to the University’s legal advisor. The information is solely for statistical reasons and will not identify you or anyone else involved.
  • Where otherwise legally required.

Supervision and Training

The Counseling Center staff may consult with one another in order to improve our services. In addition, counselors-in-training regularly discuss their work with their supervisor and each other. The information disclosed remains confidential in all instances.

Make an Appointment

Students can sign up for counseling by calling (214) 333-5288 or by visiting counselingcenter.dbu.edu. One of our staff members will be in touch with you to match your availability with that of one of our counselors.