Personal Counseling • Main page • Personal Counseling Staff

Personal counseling at the Berklee College of Music Counseling and Advising Center is a free service provided by professionally trained and licensed mental health counselors. Our personal counselors provide an opportunity for students to explore any personal problems or concerns that they may not wish to share with family or friends.

We provide effective short-term counseling to address many concerns and problems that many Berklee students face. Some common types of problems and issues that students discuss include:

• Difficulty adjusting to life at Berklee and/or Boston and/or the United States
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Loneliness
• Difficulty concentrating and making decisions
• Feeling tired, fatigued, like everything takes a lot of effort
• Loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed
• Recent change in your sleeping patterns (e.g., difficulty sleeping or sleeping all the time)
• Recent change in your eating patterns (e.g., loss of appetite or eating more than usual)
• Feeling guilty or inadequate
• Wanting to avoid most people, even those you like
• Wishing you were dead, having suicidal thoughts
• Having panic attacks or experiencing intense anxiety for no apparent reason
• Unexplained crying
• Bursts of anger or unusual irritability
• Use of alcohol or drugs is causing personal and/or academic problems
• Problems with weight control or concerns related to body image
• A recent trauma
• Having experienced sexual assault or harassment
• Concerns about sexual issues (e.g., sexual performance, questions regarding sexual orientation)
• Issues around pregnancy
• Problems in your relationship with your parent(s)
• Relationship problems here at school or with a significant other
• Lack of assertiveness or communication problems
• Grief, loss, or bereavement issues
• Procrastination or motivation problems
• Anxiety around proficiencies or other performances

Who needs personal counseling?

Personal counseling services are utilized by a broad spectrum of students at Berklee. In no way do we consider personal counseling to be for "crazy" people. Counseling at our center involves the concerns and problems of normal college students just like you. The fact that so many students seek our services is proof of just how common these issues are.

In addition, College Response offers online screening tools to promote prevention, early detection and treatment of mental health disorders and alcohol prevention affecting college students. College Response provides confidential and effective screenings for depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders and alcohol problems. Hundreds of colleges participate in College Response each year. Click here to learn more and see how you score (and when logging into this site, use the keyword BERKLEE).

How do I begin seeing a personal counselor?

Any student can make an appointment by coming to or calling the C&AC and requesting to speak with a personal counselor regarding personal matters. Our professionally trained triage and screening staff may ask several pertinent questions, in a professional and confidential manner, to determine how soon you need to be seen. They will also ask for your first name, student identification number, and a current phone number when making this initial appointment, so that we may reach you if anything changes before you are scheduled to come in. Appointments can be made in person or by phone between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding college holidays when Berklee is closed. We ask you to keep your scheduled appointments and to notify the center 24 hours in advance of your cancellation.

What happens during my first personal counseling appointment?

Most initial appointments will be made within a week. At your first appointment, you and your counselor will discuss the issues that led you to come to the C&AC for help as well as treatment options. These could include ongoing treatment with your intake counselor, referral to a different counselor at Berklee, or a referral to an outpatient therapist depending on the presenting problem.

How long can I see a personal counselor at Berklee?

Because there are approximately three full time mental health counselors for 3,800 Berklee students, we are limited in the extent of services we are able to offer. Therefore, in keeping with the trend in colleges and universities across the nation, we adopted a 12-session limit per student per year on June 1, 2002. With this model, our goal is to meet the needs of all students who could benefit from personal counseling services on a short-term basis. Our mental health counselors are creative and flexible in working with you to ensure that these sessions are to your fullest benefit and reflect your specific needs. Sessions are either 50 minutes or 30 minutes, and are typically scheduled weekly or biweekly, to address specific presenting problems. It is not uncommon for counselors to be able to address and alleviate many presenting problems effectively within this short-term model.

In cases of students who need ongoing assistance beyond our 12-session limit, C&AC counselors have a diverse and extensive pool of therapists in the Boston area to which students may be referred. It is not uncommon for a student to begin work with us, and then receive a referral to an appropriate treatment provider to continue therapy outside of Berklee.

Will other Berklee students or C&AC staff know what I'm talking about with my personal counselor?

Complete confidentiality is highly respected and followed as a strict rule in our center. All records of personal counseling sessions are kept in locked separate files, and student employees do not handle any client records. Counseling records never become a part of a student's transcript or academic records. Massachusetts law, however, does define some limits to confidentiality—your counselor will review these with you in your initial intake appointment, and you will have an opportunity to read and sign an Informed Consent for Treatment Statement.

What happens if I need to see a personal counselor but the C&AC is closed?

Note that the center is open weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m., and it is not possible to reach a staff person outside of those hours. In the event of an emergency before or after C&AC operating hours, students living on campus should call Berklee security at 617 747-2333. If you live off-campus and you are in crisis, call 911 or go to your local hospital emergency room. As always, a student presenting in crisis to the center during our operating hours will be seen the same day.