SCS article gives wrong impression

I read with some dismay your article on counseling services at Miami University, published Sept. 4 (The Miami Student, "Students report poor experiences with counseling services). It is good to know The Student is aware of these services and appears to believe them important enough to students' lives to pay attention to them. However, the other staff of the Student Counseling Service (SCS) and I are quite concerned that the disappointing journalism reflected in the report leaves a markedly inaccurate impression of the quality of the services. It is especially important to correct this impression because there is potential danger that this impression will make it even harder for a student in need of counseling services to take the often very difficult step to seek such help.

The reality is that we in SCS are deeply invested in ensuring that we provide the best service possible given our resources and we very closely monitor the quality of the service we provide. We do this in many ways, and I will highlight some of them here so that your readers may get a more balanced and accurate report on this quality. First, we specifically monitor the quality of our services through two anonymous annual surveys. In one survey we routinely and randomly ask students who have utilized our services to provide us feedback on their level of satisfaction regarding the services they received. For the last two years, 88 percent of student users have reported that their counselor was helpful; 96 percent reported that the sessions were professional; 93 percent indicated that the overall experience was positive; and 95 percent reported that they would recommend SCS to other students.

In a service which is by nature highly personal and requires very high levels of sensitivity, these are exceptionally high levels of satisfaction and helpfulness. In addition, the last two years SCS has also subjected its service to the scrutiny of a national survey out of the University of Michigan School of Public Health which randomly surveys students regarding their mental health needs and their evaluation of the quality of counseling services if they have accessed them. (Thanks to all the students who participated!) Results from this survey indicate students using our service are equally as satisfied with the quality of our therapists as students at other participating institutions are with their therapists.

Second, our services are subject to intense scrutiny by two very rigorous accrediting organizations. Our clinical services overall are reviewed annually by the International Association of Counseling Services, and SCS has always achieved the maximum accreditation in any review year. In addition, our training program, which allows us to provide a wider range and greater amount of services to students, has not only received the maximum level of accreditation possible by the American Psychological Association, it also received special recognition for its multicultural training components. Together these organizations ensure our services are effective, ethical and meet the needs of our students.

Even with such high levels of satisfaction overall, the unfortunate reality in the highly personal activity of counseling is that sometimes clients may feel misunderstood, not helped and occasionally even offended. The reality is that the few students' reports the author chose to reference are perceptions taken out of a context that cannot be publically known because of confidentiality restrictions. As importantly, I hope that any student who may regrettably have had such an experience with our service will not let that keep them from seeking services they may need. I personally invite them to contact me or any other staff member at SCS who can provide access to counselors in SCS or in the Oxford community with whom they may feel more comfortable.

In conclusion, while The Student has judged that the news here is some students have been dissatisfied with their counseling experience, the data suggests the real news is very high percentages of students are satisfied with, feel helped by and would recommend our counseling service to others.

Respectfully submitted,

Kip Alishio, Ph.D., Director, Student Counseling Service alishikc@muohio.edu