Personal Counseling

A 45-minute workshop to understand how stress affects you and what to do about it.

Handling stress is an important concern for students. Learn how to understand the added stressors of dealing with Covid-19.

A 45-minute workshop to increase study skills.

Effective study skills; updated to increase success in online classes. Covers organization, time management skills, and helpful tips to increase retention of information.

A 45-minute workshop for learning how to recognize unhealthy levels of anxiety and/or depression and what your options are.

Learning to understand how excessive anxiety and/or depression can affect you is an important step to learning how you might reverse the anxiety and depression cycle. Know signs and symptoms to be aware of and your options to reduce them.

A 45-minute workshop for increasing your ability to overcome stress.

Increase your ability to overcome stress, anxiety, and feeling overwhelmed, by adding new techniques (happiness skills) to your self-care and coping skills toolbox.

A 40-minute workshop on understanding how we undervalue ourselves and how to increase self-esteem.

Learn how to stop self-sabotage (beating yourself up), begin compassionately supporting yourself, and start empowering yourself towards reaching your goals.

A 45-minute workshop on creating healthy relationships

Learn what makes for a successful, fulfilling, and safe relationship, while increasing your ability to recognize red flags that might signal trouble ahead.

A 40-minute workshop to increase your knowledge about suicidality.

Learning what you can do to help yourself and those you care about stay safe is of critical importance in today’s stress filled environment. It’s okay to talk about it!

A 45-minute workshop on rebuilding connections and consolidating resilience after the pandemic.

A look at what we have all been through, ways to understand and move through our losses, and how to rebuild hope for the future.

A 30-minute for workshop to help prepare you for the holiday experience.

Increase your understanding of Holiday Blues and learn what strategies can help you to "let go and find the joy."

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Problems forming relationships
• Lack of satisfaction with current relationships
• Loss of relationships (through death, divorce, break-ups, moving away)
• Family problems
• Anger
• Loneliness
• Homesickness
• Being different from others due to ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, race
• Experiencing violence now or in the past
• Problems related to alcohol or other substance use
• Rape/sexual assault
• Problems with eating or body image
• Adjusting to college
• Adjusting to a new culture
• Wanting to learn to make healthier life choices
• Having a general sense of "not feeling like myself"
• Having a general feeling of unhappiness or unease
• Confusion about identity, who or what you want to be
  Career and major exploration

Personal counseling services are free and confidential to all registered BCTC students.

Students frequently ask the following questions about confidentiality:

• What if a professor calls to find out if a student has sought counseling?
• What if a parent calls wanting to know if their son or daughter is getting help?
• What if a future employer wants to know if a BCTC graduate has ever received counseling?

Our staff takes confidentiality extremely seriously. No matter who calls seeking information about students or alumni, the answer is always something like this: "We are not allowed to disclose any information about students without a written release of information from that student. Therefore, we are not even able to tell you whether a person has ever sought services here."

That means that students can seek counseling services at Counseling Services and rest assured that no one will know their business unless the student gives his or her permission for the counselor to release information. There are only three exceptions to this policy:

• The first involves safety: If a student discloses to a counselor that he or she feels like they can not prevent themselves from killing or seriously harming themselves or another person, the counselor may need to break confidentiality. That doesn't mean that students can't talk about suicidal or rageful feelings. Lots of students go through times when they feel this way. It's just that if a person feels these things to such extremes that they can't control themselves from carrying it out, their counselor may need to break confidentiality to protect a person from harm.
• Another exception to the policy is when the student tells the counselor about someone being abused who is either under 18, over 65, or disabled. In these cases, the counselor is mandated by law to disclose that information to the Kentucky Department of Social Services. The reason for this is to make sure that people who can not protect themselves are being protected by the law and by state services.
• The final exception to the policy is when a judge forces a counselor to turn over records to a court of law. This is very rare and only occurs when students are involved in some sort of legal proceedings such as custody cases and lawsuits.

Informed Consent

Our policy about confidentiality is based on state law and the ethics of the counseling profession. We believe strongly that students should be aware of how these policies work before they begin counseling. This is known as a client's informed consent. Counselors talk with students about these and other related issues in their first session.