Hello! We’re really glad you’re here. College life can be exciting, but it can also be stressful, overwhelming, and full of transitions. At MTSU Counseling Services, our goal is to support your success and well-being by ensuring you get the right help, right when you need it.
Fast Access to Care: Same Day/Next Day Screenings
We know that when you’re struggling, waiting for help can feel impossible. That’s why we offer Same Day/Next Day Screen appointments—so you can talk to someone quickly. The goal of this brief screening is to:
Listen carefully to understand your unique situation and concerns.
Ensure immediate support for students in acute distress.
Connect you directly to the most appropriate resources for your situation.
By connecting with you within 24 hours, we significantly reduce wait times and ensure that every student, especially those in acute distress, gets the help they need as soon as possible.
Focused Support: Short-Term Treatment Model
Your journey begins with a Same Day/Next Day screening. Based on the screening, we will work with you to determine the next best step.
If your needs are a good fit for short-term counseling, you’ll be referred in-house for approximately six weekly sessions, each lasting 50 minutes. You and your counselor will work together on specific goals to help you move forward.
Why We Use This Approach
We use a short-term model because it is:
Effective: It works well for common student concerns like stress, anxiety, relationship issues, and academic pressure.
Accessible: It allows us to serve as many students as possible with our available staff, reducing wait times for everyone.
Goal-Oriented: It provides timely, compassionate care to help you reach your goals efficiently.
Connecting You to the Best Care Your well-being is our top priority. Sometimes, the best way to support you is to connect you with specialized, longer-term resources off-campus. If your needs are beyond the scope of our short-term model, or if demand for our services is very high, we will work closely with you to find the perfect fit in the community. We’ll help you with the referral process every step of the way.
Limits of Service
To be transparent and ensure we can serve our student community effectively, there are specific services we are not able to offer. In these cases, we are happy to provide referrals to community providers who specialize in these areas.
MTSU Counseling Services does not provide:
Emotional Support Animal documentation
Long-term psychotherapy
ADHD evaluations or ongoing ADHD medication management
Mandated counseling, documentation, or testimony for legal matters (e.g., court cases, custody battles)
Any type of formal psychological evaluations or assessments (e.g., for academic accommodations, which are handled by the Disability & Access Center)
Family, marriage, or couples counseling
Fitness for Duty evaluations
Ready to Get Started?
Schedule your brief screening appointment today! This is the first step toward getting the support you need
Not sure if counseling is right for you? That’s completely okay—and you’re not alone. Many students aren’t sure what to expect from counseling, especially if they’ve never tried it before.
Try Let’s Talk
If you’re curious about what counseling is like but not ready to commit to an appointment, consider trying Let’s Talk—our informal, drop-in program.
Available Monday–Friday, 2–4 p.m.
Student Union, Room 216
Last drop-in starts at 3:30 p.m.
Let’s Talk is a one-time, casual conversation with a counselor about whatever’s on your mind. It’s a great way to get a feel for counseling and decide if it might be helpful for you. Many students who try Let’s Talk find it helpful and then choose to schedule a screening appointment afterward. For more info: Let’s Talk
Start with a Screening Appointment
If you’re ready for a more formal first step, a screening appointment is the way to go. This brief, information-gathering meeting is focused on understanding your needs and connecting you with the best resources, whether that’s short-term counseling with us, other campus resources, or a referral to a community provider.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
A screening appointment is a brief (30 minute), initial conversation with a licensed mental health professional. The goal is to understand your concerns and determine the best next steps. It helps us connect you to the most appropriate resources, whether that’s short-term counseling, campus support, or a community referral.
You can schedule online or call us at 615-898-2670. This is your first step toward getting the support you need.
No. Our scheduling system is designed for immediate access, not advance booking. We don’t allow appointments to be booked more than one day out because our top priority is supporting students right now. Prevent the schedule from filling up weeks in advance, so help is always just a day away.
If you schedule online, you’ll only be able to view availability for the next day. If you call, we will offer you a same-day or next-day appointment.
We offer Same Day/Next Day screening appointments to ensure students can access care quickly. We know waiting can be hard and this approach helps us connect you to the right resources as soon as possible.
Based on our conversation, we’ll work together to create a plan. This could include:
A referral for short-term counseling with us (typically six weekly sessions).
A connection to other supportive resources on campus.
A referral to a specialist in the community if your needs would be better met with long-term or specialized care.
You might be. Our priority is to connect you with the best care for your situation. If your needs are outside the scope of our short-term model (for example, requiring long-term therapy or a specialized service we don’t provide), we will help you find an excellent community provider. We’ll support you through the entire referral process.
No. If your presenting issue does not fit our short-term model of care, it would be therapeutically harmful to begin counseling here and then be referred out after a few sessions. Starting over with a new therapist can delay progress and make it harder to build rapport. If trauma is involved, having to open up twice can be especially difficult. That’s why we focus on connecting you with the most appropriate level of care from the very beginning.
Short-term counseling is a focused, collaborative approach where you and your counselor work on specific goals. It’s very effective for common challenges like stress, anxiety, relationships, and academic pressure. Sessions are 50 minutes, typically once a week, for about six weeks. Many students find they make significant progress with this number of sessions.
No. Counseling is most effective when you attend consistently each week. This allows you to build on what you’ve learned from each session. Counting or saving sessions can create unnecessary anxiety. Your counselor will work with you to adjust the number of sessions if needed to best meet your treatment goals.
Counseling is scheduled weekly because it is the most effective structure for creating meaningful and lasting change. This consistency is crucial for two main reasons:
Building Momentum Toward Your Goals: At your first appointment, you and your counselor will establish specific treatment goals. Weekly sessions create a steady rhythm that allows you to maintain focus and build momentum as you work directly toward these objectives. Without regular meetings, it’s easy to lose the progress made in session.
Practicing and Integrating New Skills: Therapy is an active process. In each session, you’ll likely learn new skills or gain new insights. The week between sessions provides a necessary opportunity to practice these skills in your daily life. The next session then serves as a check-in to discuss what worked, address challenges, and build upon that foundation. Just like learning any new skill, consistent practice is key to mastery.
We understand that weekly appointments are not feasible for everyone. If your schedule cannot accommodate a weekly commitment, you might want to consider Let’s Talk.
Let’s Talk is a drop-in counseling service that offers informal, confidential consultations on a first-come, first-served basis.
It is an excellent resource for brief support or to see if speaking with a counselor might be helpful.
The key difference is that Let’s Talk consultations are standalone and do not build on previous sessions, making them a more flexible, though less intensive, alternative to ongoing weekly counseling.
We can help you decide at your first screen appointment which option is the best fit for your needs.
Yes, but timing matters.
If after your second session you feel that you and your counselor are not a good fit, it’s much more beneficial to request a switch than to stop coming altogether.
However, if you decide this after your third session, it likely won’t be therapeutically helpful to start over with a different counselor, since you’ll only have a few sessions remaining. This can disrupt progress and make it harder to build rapport.
Yes. We understand that unanticipated situations can arise. If you are unable to attend your appointment due to illness or emergency, please notify Counseling Services as far in advance as possible, preferably at least 24 hours prior to your appointment.
If you do not show up for your scheduled appointment or cancel without sufficient notice, a $10 missed appointment fee will be charged to your student account. It will display on your account as a “Missed Appt. Fee” to protect confidentiality.
By responsibly rescheduling or canceling, you allow that time to be offered to another student who may benefit from an earlier appointment. Please remember that mental health appointments should be treated with the same importance as any other medical appointment. For counseling to be most helpful and effective, consistency and commitment are key.
To avoid a missed appointment fee, you can cancel or reschedule using any of the methods below. This applies to all appointment types, including initial consultations, therapy, psychiatry, and Case Management.
Please note: To avoid a fee, please cancel at least 12 hours before your appointment time, or as soon as you are able in case of an emergency.
It depends. If you’re facing a new and different concern that fits our short-term model, you are welcome to return for another round of counseling. However, if you’re seeking help with the same ongoing issue (e.g., anxiety), this may indicate that short-term counseling was not sufficient, and we would help connect you with a community provider.
To serve our student community effectively, we are unable to provide:
Emotional Support Animal (ESA) documentation
Long-term psychotherapy
ADHD evaluations or ADHD medication management
Mandated counseling, documentation, or testimony for legal matters (e.g., court cases, custody battles)
Any type of formal psychological evaluations or assessments
Family, couples, or marriage counseling
Fitness for Duty evaluations
Let’s Talk is a free, informal, drop-in conversation with a counselor. No appointment is needed! It’s a great, low-pressure way to see what talking to a counselor is like and to get support for a specific concern. Many students who try Let’s Talk find it helpful and then choose to schedule a screening appointment afterward.
