Psychological Services

Response to COVID-19

NOTICE ABOUT COUNSELING SERVICES IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19:

Please note: you must reside in Florida to obtain telehealth services, per professional licensing guidelines.

We are pleased let you know that any student who has established or received counseling services with our office within the last 6 months will be able to continue to do so through our tele-mental health and secure videoconferencing platform, Therapist Assisted Online (TAO). If you haven’t already, you may initiate this service any time by contacting us at (727) 873-4422. We will provide you with all the information you need to start this service quickly.

If you have not previously engaged in services at the Wellness Center, please contact our office to be scheduled with a wellness consultation appointment. This session will focus on providing support, education, and skills to help you with your current concerns. Your therapist will also assess if other services could be helpful, and provide information and resources as appropriate and available.

Whether or not you have been connected with our office, we would like to remind you about a number of resources you can use during this time:

  • Our self-guided TAO program is available for all students, including self-paced sessions and a library of guided meditations free for use. TAO is an interactive, web-based program that provides assistance to help improve mental health. Please use this educational and interactive content to support your mental wellbeing.
  • Our after hours mental health consultation services for urgent needs continue to be available and can be reached anytime outside of normal operating hours at (727) 873-4422, option 2.
  • The office of Student Outreach and Support (SOS) is available to available to provide support and connect you to resources in the community.
  • Distance Success and Wellness Coaching is available! Coaching is free to enrolled USF students. It’s short-term, action-oriented and helps you work toward any area of improvement: health, wellness, relationships, time management, etc. It is not counseling and does not involve a long-term commitment. 
  • The Wellness Center is pleased to offer Relax-a-Bull, a drop-in workshop teaching stress management skills, now in an online format! For the Fall 2020 semester, Relax-a-Bull is offered Thursdays 1pm-2pm via Microsoft Teams.

Relax-a-Bull has a four session curriculum that rotates, and students can start the workshop at any time and/or repeat sessions if they desire. In each workshop session, students are provided education on stress management skills, guided through experiential activities, and assisted in developing a personalized plan for how to implement these stress management skills in their lives. Specific information and strategies on coping with stress during the coronavirus pandemic will be shared as well.

Students do not have to be enrolled in counseling services to attend. Students can engage in the Relax-a-Bull workshop in addition to participating in Wellness Center mental health services.

Please be aware that while substantial efforts are made to protect privacy, confidentiality and HIPAA compliance cannot be guaranteed on the Microsoft Teams platform. To abide by state licensing regulations, it is recommended that only USF students currently located within the state of Florida attend. For security purposes the Teams meeting will be locked after 10 minutes into the workshop. Please join us!

  • As always, please know we at the Wellness Center are here to serve you. Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call.