Personal Growth and Counseling Center

While there are limits to confidentiality, the fact that you are seeing a counselor does not appear on any academic records. Your right to confidentiality is protected by law. As helping professionals, we are legally and ethically bound to report cases of child abuse, elder abuse, suicide, homicide, and if individuals are gravely disabled and unable to care for themselves.

In such cases, the counselor is legally required to make outside reports (where appropriate) of information obtained during counseling sessions. The counselor will inform the student that confidentiality will be broken and the reason(s) for doing so.

Our privacy policy explains detailed use and description of protected health information and can be made available upon request.

Students must complete registration and screening forms prior to their first appointment each academic year. Our office will email forms prior to the first appointment. 

We offer both in-person and teletherapy sessions via Zoom. Some students prefer one over the other, but some students prefer flexibility for both due to variations in their schedules. We do our best to accommodate a students’ preferred modality. Please talk to our Front Desk Team or your counselor if you have any questions or concerns about your meeting modality.

PGCC services are covered by the Mental Health Fee, which is included in students' tuition fees. So, there are no additional costs to individual counseling, crisis support, group therapy, workshops, or other PGCC services.

You may be in need of a crisis appointment if:

• You are currently thinking about suicide.
• You have a plan for suicide.
• You are thinking about or have a plan to harm someone else.
• You've recently been the victim of a crime or experienced a traumatic event and are having trouble functioning.

Think of a crisis appointment as a trip to the emergency room. Our goal is to ensure that you are safe and able to stay safe.

Like most university counseling centers, we utilize a brief therapy model which means the number and/or frequency of individual sessions is limited. Because of these limitations your counselor may ask you to consider other counseling support options on campus and/or in the community, such as PGCC groups, community self–help groups, private practitioners, or other public counseling agencies. We do our best to help students navigate these options and will often provide support to help students seek and connect to these resources.

While many issues typically encountered by university students can be addressed within the brief therapy we provide, if at any point it is determined that other services are more suitable for you, we will help you to obtain assistance from the appropriate off-campus provider that will best serve you.

Typically, yes. Students will often meet with the first available counselor during their initial visit. From there, they will get assigned to a counselor, based on both availability and fit. From there, students typically stay with their assigned counselor for the duration of the academic year. We encourage students to talk to their counselor if they have any questions or concerns about their work together.

Learn more about the Personal Growth and Counseling Center staff here.

You can expect someone who is interested in listening to your concerns and in helping you develop a better understanding of them so that you may deal with them more easily and effectively. Your counselor will take you seriously and will be willing to openly discuss anything you wish to discuss. Your counselor will be willing to answer some questions about themselves directly and honestly.

Because counselors have different beliefs about how people change, they differ on how much talking they do in sessions, whether they ask you to do "homework", and their focus of discussion. If you have any questions about what is going on, by all means ask. Counselors have no "magical" skills or knowledge, and will be unable to solve your problems directly for you. Your counselor will want to work with you, but will not do what you are capable of doing yourself. Except under unusual circumstances, your counselor will maintain strict confidentiality about you, and will openly discuss this with you.

Your main responsibilities in counseling are to attend your regularly scheduled sessions, talk about what is bothering you as openly and honestly as you can, and complete any tasks or "homework" assignments you may be asked to do. You are expected to let your counselor know if you are unable to make it to a session. Most counseling will require you to try something new or a "different approach." Another thing your counselor will expect is for you to be willing to experiment and try things out without jumping to conclusions. It is a collaborative space, and mutual openness to new experiences is beneficial.

You are also encouraged and expected to provide feedback to your counselor. This includes providing feedback that you’re moving positively towards your goals, your problems have been resolved, or even if you don’t feel like you’re making any progress. This latter point is most important: your counselor is most interested in you benefiting from counseling, and this feedback is part of the collaborative process for setting and moving towards goals.

The staff of the Personal Growth and Counseling Center make every attempt to provide services to you, up to the limits of the law and professional ethics. 

Due to varying state law, students who are outside of the state of California at the time of their scheduled session cannot be seen for counseling. We encourage students to reach out to us to reschedule an appointment when they are back in California. For students who may be out of state for extended periods of time, we may be able to provide support in finding appropriate services in their area.

• Letters are provided at the discretion of the PGCC according to clinical history, current functioning and relevant legal and ethical statutes.
• Letters will be provided only in the event that a treatment relationship has been established with a PGCC clinician. In other words, we only provide letters and documentation for students who have a current and ongoing treatment relationship with a PGCC counselor.
• All requests must be made in person at least five (5) working days in advance of when it is needed.
  PGCC clinicians are unable to write "doctor's notes" or give excuses for absences, missed exams or assignments turned in late.
• Students must fill out a Release of Information form before a letter will be given. This form is available at the PGCC.
• With regards to emotional support animal (ESA) documentation: as there is currently no well-established research literature base for the clinical efficacy of emotional support animals (ESAs), we are unable to provide letters and documentation for ESAs.

The PGCC does not permit ESAs on site because they are not considered service animals under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

PGCC complies with federal and state disability civil rights laws and permits service animals. The University requires that any student using a service animal on campus request such accommodation by contacting the office of Student Disability and Accessibility Center (SDAC). SDAC is in the Health and Wellness Services Building (80) and can be contacted by phone at (831) 582-3672 or by email at SDAC@csumb.edu.