Students on the Pace Pleasantville Campus
Counseling Center

Parents and Families

Common Parent and Family Questions About the Counseling Center

How can I help my student access services at the Counseling Center?
Begin by being open with your student about your own feelings, observations and concerns. This can also include encouraging your student to share their feelings with you. Validate their thoughts and emotions and offer yourself as a resource. In addition, you can mention the Counseling Center as a resource and you can share how your student might contact the Counseling Center for help and support.

Is counseling only useful for those with serious and long term emotional problems?
Counseling is useful for anyone who thinks they would benefit from talking to someone outside of their friends and family about important or troubling issues in their lives. Some of the most common reasons students come to counseling are to get help with anxiety, depression, family, social and intimate relationships, alcohol and other drug use, adjustment to changes and transitions, and academic and other stressors.

Do counselors give advice and provide solutions for students?
Counselors work to help students understand and begin to cope with their struggles on their own terms and in a way that works best for them. Counseling supports students as they learn to problem-solve and as they gain confidence in making important decisions.

Will counselors have difficulty understanding or relating to my student’s problems because of culture, religion, sexual identity, or race?
The Pace Counseling Center is committed to understanding each client as a unique individual and aspects of personal identity, spirituality, family culture, and ethnic heritage are all respected in the counseling relationship.

Counselors don’t care. Aren’t they just doing a job?
Each student matters. As counselors, our concern is with your student’s emotional and wellness needs. In addition to providing counseling services, the Counseling Center staff frequently interacts with the Pace community by offering educational and interactive presentations on a variety of emotional and physical wellness topics.

Who will know my student is seeking a counselor?
Confidentiality is required by law and is a major priority at our counseling center. All counseling center staff are dedicated to ensuring the security and anonymity of all student records, information, and visits. Any sharing of information outside of the counseling center is only done with the specific written consent of the student receiving counseling with us, even for parents. Counseling records are not kept as a part of a student’s educational record.

Some Helpful Resources