Thinking About Mental Health Policy in University and College Counseling Centers

Based on a survey of counseling center directors exploring the deployment of resources among different areas of service, ideas about mental health policy were generated. Specifically, we were interested in the development of service limits, the reasons for establishing limits, and the consequences. From a director's perspective, centers have different kinds of services and limits, use different rationales for establishing limits, write about different outcomes, and value the same outcomes differently. Two popular types of limits were counseling session limits and the referral of students with serious problems. The challenge of relating counseling center activity to the educational mission was explored.