皇家华人

The Counseling Center is part of Student Affairs and is dedicated to providing high quality psychological and psychiatric care. By maintaining a strict policy of confidentiality, your privacy is respected and better care is promoted. An important way of insuring confidentiality is to provide you with detailed information on the Counseling Center's policy on confidentiality and the Georgia law on privileged communication between you and a Counseling Center professional.

Under Georgia law, counseling records are privileged and confidential. Exceptions to confidentiality can occur only under certain circumstances. These exceptions include serious immediate threat to your life or welfare or to the life or welfare of another person. This includes suspicion of the abuse of a child, elderly person or a person with a disability or imminent danger to the community at large. Disclosures may be made to select University officials when needed to protect the campus community or to ensure the continuity of care in treatment. When possible, you (the student) will be notified in advance if disclosure is deemed necessary.

No one outside the Counseling Center professional staff may have access to your records, and no one outside the Counseling Center may be given information without your written consent. This includes your parents, teachers, housing staff, friends, insurance company, etc. If it is important for us to discuss your care with anyone outside of the Counseling Center, we need written authorization from you to do so. If you feel this is needed, please discuss the needs with your counselor so we can best meet your needs without divulging unnecessary information. It is important for your parents to understand this limitation as we are bound by law to protect your clinical information. We must have a signed, written release of information form to discuss your care with your parents once you become 18 years of age. A form is available at our reception desk for your specific release of Counseling Center information.

It is important for you to know that Georgia law outlines a protected relationship between mental health professionals (specifically, psychologists and psychiatrists) and their clients. This privileged relationship means that clinicians may not reveal or be compelled by law to reveal any communication, observation, test result or other information gained as a result of the treatment relationship. Information conveyed to the Counseling Center by someone other than yourself is not considered confidential and may be shared directly with you. Privileged communication between you and your counselor or psychiatrist may be waived by a judge in child custody adoption cases, in lawsuits where mental condition is an important consideration, and in criminal lawsuits.

In order to provide you with a continuum of high level care, there may be times when a Counseling Center staff will need to contact you or respond to you via electronic mail, voice mail, facsimile machine, cellular phone and/or answering machine, unless you instruct us otherwise. It is important for you to realize there is the potential that these messages could be inadvertently received or overheard by an unintended third party. E-mail is not a secure means of communication (i.e. may be intercepted by others outside the intended audience). Counseling Center staff members prefer to minimize our use of email with you whenever possible.

During the academic year the Counseling Center office is open from 8:00 am to 5:30 pm, Monday through Thursday and from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm Friday. During summer and break periods, the hours are the same. Our phone number is 229-333-5940. Emergency services are available 24 hours every day of the year. The emergency services can be reached during hours the Counseling Center is not open by calling 229-259-5555, which is the number for the University Police Department, who will contact the counselor on-call. We understand that confidentiality and comfort level in talking to campus police can be an issue. If you desire, you do have the option of only using your first name. The VSU Police dispatcher will also request a phone number where you can be reached. When the on-call counselor staff talks with you, at that time, your name and student number will be needed for our records. If you have any questions on confidentiality or procedures, please bring them to the attention of your counselor.  The Counseling Center encourages you to help us maintain high quality care by your active participation in and knowledge of the treatment process.

ROI Instructions

When completing a Release of Information form, be mindful of the following steps. This will ensure that we have the appropriate information and can complete your request in a timely manner.

• All demographic lines in the top right corner are filled in.
• Your legal name is clearly printed on the line.
• Provide us with the individual, department, or facility we will be communicating with.
  • If it is a professor, please include their department.
• When supplying a phone or fax number, please identify which one you are providing.
• For Purpose of Disclosure, please be specific.
  • Examples: Letter for Medical Withdrawal, Letter for Financial Aid Appeal, Letter Verifying Attendance, Letter Verifying Services, etc.
• For Information to be Released, please state “That which is necessary for [Purpose of Disclosure]”
• The form requires an ink signature for the client as well as a witness along with the witness’ title/relationship. If you complete the form in the office, a staff member can act as your witness. Completed forms can be uploaded via the Student Health Patient Portal or faxed to (229) 253-4113.

Please select from the ROI templates below for some common requests. If you do not see a template that you need, please use the general ROI form.

Release of Information Form

ROI Access Office

ROI Financial Aid Office

ROI GAP

ROI Greenleaf Behavioral Health Hospital

ROI Housing and Residence Life 

ROI Legacy Behavioral Health Crisis Center

ROI Legacy Behavioral Health Services

ROI Registrar

ROI South Georgia Medical Center

ROI Student Affairs Office

ROI UWill

ROI VSU Student Health Center

In accordance with the recommendations of the American Counseling Association, the VSU Counseling Center does not provide documentation for Emotional Support Animals. Below are some known local providers that provide ESA letters. Students will need to be seen for an assessment and may need to continue with the provider for services. Documentation is then processed through the Access Office. Please contact the Access Office (229) 245-2498 with any questions regarding Emotional Support Animals.

• Renewed Mind (229) 232-4833
• Therapy Center Counseling & Consultation (229) 244-9688
• Cornerstone Counseling (229) 333-0300

NO-SHOW AND LATE CANCELLATION POLICY

The Counseling Center staff is committed to providing efficient and effective counseling services to as many 皇家华人 State University students as possible. The demand for counseling services is typically high and we ask that you only schedule appointments that you are confident you will keep.

If you need to cancel an appointment, we require that you do so at least 24 hours in advance to avoid penalty. Starting November 1, 2022, the VSU Counseling Center will resume charging a fine of $15 for clients who no-show appointments or who cancel sessions less than 24 hours in advance. We have a 10-minute late policy for appointments. After this 10-minute grace period, the appointment will be classified as a ‘no show’ and the same fine ($15) will be assigned to your student account. Email will not be an acceptable form of notification in any circumstance.

We would like to specify that this policy refers to the following services offered at the VSU Counseling Center: individual counseling sessions, couples counseling sessions, Intakes, and personal consultations and consultation follow-ups. Please be aware of the following:

• Three no-show/late cancellations in a row within one semester will result in an email notification of suspension of services for one semester along with a list of local referrals to community providers following the last no-show/late cancellation appointment. 
• If a student has two or more cancellations, they will not be scheduled any sooner than two weeks out.

Academic demands should be planned for and are not considered an emergency. Please plan ahead and cancel at least 24 hours in advance to avoid the fee and insure that you arrive to your scheduled appointments on time. Any fines that should be accrued will be automatically billed to your VSU student account. There is an appeals process in place for any fine in which a student can verify with proper documentation that validates a missed/rescheduled appointment. All appeals will be reviewed by the Director of the Counseling Center.

Definitions

Cancellation: calling at least 24 hours prior to cancel or reschedule your appointment.

No-show: not showing up for an appointment, including not showing up within the 10-minute grace period. 

Late Cancellation: Less than 24 hours’ notice for cancellation or rescheduling of an appointment.

Rescheduled: Changing the date/time of an upcoming appointment at least 24 hours prior to the upcoming appointment. Rescheduling within less than 24 hours of the appointment time will be counted as a late cancellation.

 

 

Thank you for helping us to serve everyone better and ensure that great therapy services are afforded to all students at 皇家华人 State University.

I have read and understand the above explanation of Counseling Services’ policy:

Printed Name: ______________________________________________________________

Signature: ­­­­­­­­­­­_____________________________________________ Date: _______________