Needs Assessment

The initial Needs Assessment is a brief meeting between the student and mental health provider. Students leave this appointment with recommendations for follow-up services that may include short-term goal focused therapy, group counseling, single session therapy, and/or other campus and community resources and services.

Schedule an Appointment

The main objective of Counseling and Psychological Services at RIT is to help students cope with and resolve psychological and social issues that interfere with the attainment of their educational goals. However, students may have therapeutic needs, behaviors, or other conditions that are outside our scope of services and would be best met off-campus through a referral. Students or others concerned about a student may also request consultation with a Counseling and Psychological Services staff member for further information about off-campus treatment providers.

Referrals are commonly used when there is a need for specialized services that are not available through Counseling and Psychological Services, such as:

• Significant drug or alcohol problems (substance dependence)
• Need for drug testing 
• Significant or long-standing eating disorder symptoms that may pose a medical danger
• Request for standardized psychological testing and/or diagnostic assessment for purposes of an RIT Disability Services’ accommodation, employment clearance, on-campus housing accommodation, or to fulfill court-mandated assessment or treatment requirements

Students may also be referred to community resources outside of Counseling and Psychological Services when there is a desire or need to be seen more than once a week or the need for long-term individual therapy, as indicated by:

• Individuals who have demonstrated symptom reduction and have met initial treatment goals but desire on-going maintenance support
• Indication that short-term therapy may be detrimental or non-beneficial
• Evidence or risk of progressive deterioration in cognitive or emotional functioning that requires intensive intervention (e.g. Partial hospitalization; Leave of Absence)
• Inability or unwillingness to provide the necessary information to thoroughly assess symptoms
• Inability or unwillingness to develop specific treatment goals for short-term counseling
• Non-compliance with treatment recommendations including regular session attendance
• Repeated utilization of crisis intervention services without commitment or engagement in more substantive, regular and formal efforts to address the issue for which the frequent crisis originate
• Behavior, while in the Counseling and Psychological Services facility, that constitutes a serious disruption or which establishes a unsafe or hostile emotional or physical environment for students and/or staff

The general guidelines listed above are only intended to serve as a guide to assist treatment decisions. The nature and complexity of presenting concerns and the broader context are considered in making the appropriate treatment recommendation(s). Cases are evaluated individually and the professional judgment of the mental health provider(s) will determine the treatment decision in a particular situation.