by Alexandra Taylor
Dr. Lisa Adams, director of UWG’s Counseling and Career Development, and Sadie Young, electronic delivery counselor at UWG, delivered a presentation last week titled “Building an Online Counseling Program at the American College Counseling Association Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana.
As one of the first universities to have a comprehensive online counseling program, UWG was able to offer the benefit of the department’s experience to their colleagues at other colleges and universities in the southeast. Counseling and Career Development offers multiple services, including personal counseling, group counseling, psychotherapy, career counseling, study skills counseling, online career testing and accessibility support. In particular, their online counseling is making a huge impact by allowing their external resources to provide guidance to students who are taking primarily online classes in academic, social and emotional success.
Online counseling was designed specifically for students taking online classes, and it allows students to receive assistance in all the same areas of concern that they would in face-to-face counseling. The counseling takes place via online video conferencing and students may access this while at home or away from campus. The online counselor is located at the Counseling and Career Development office.
Online counseling offers individual counseling, online group counseling and podcasts on counseling related topics. Students can register through the counseling and career development website and will receive an email to set up their first appointment. The email provides a link for paperwork and will also contain a link to the online counseling “room” where the student will meet with the counselor at a specified time.
To learn more information and to set up an online appointment, please visit their website at www.westga.edu/counseling/index.php.
