Our Purpose

College life is exciting, challenging, and hopefully rewarding. The years you spend at Furman will be some of the busiest you have known and during this time you will be making decisions that will affect the rest of your life. At times you may feel that this is the best period of your life. At other times, coping with the pressures and responsibilities and dealing with stress can seem overwhelming.

Given the amount of stress and the fast pace of the college years, it is not surprising that counseling is an increasingly used campus resource. The fact that great numbers of students make use of counseling services, both at Furman and nationwide, reflects two trends:

1) As our society becomes more complex and less stable, individual lives are getting more complicated.
2) Young people are more willing to seek professional consultation in achieving a happy, well-balanced life.

Counseling services focus on helping students function and develop in the stimulating and stressful environment of college. Counselors assist students with a variety of concerns. Problems range in intensity from relatively mild distress to severe and chronic psychological disorders. Examples of complaints that students bring to us include: adjusting to college, depression, eating disorders, stress, worry and anxiety, alcohol or other substance abuse, relationship problems, self-esteem issues, family problems, and concerns related to values and identity. Although most services are provided through individual appointments, our staff offers programs on various mental health related topics as an educational resource.

All consultations are confidential. No information about the students we see or the concerns they discuss is entered on an official college record or released to others without the student's prior written consent. However, as required by law, specific information must be disclosed to appropriate officials when there are clear and imminent signs of danger or reports of child or elder abuse.

The Counseling Center office is located on the upper level of the Daniel Dining Hall. Enter from the patio on the North side of the building opposite the Hartness Pavillion. Office hours are 9:00am until 5:00pm each weekday. A counselor is generally on call for emergencies after regular hours and on weekends.

Students can make appointments by visiting the office or by phoning 294-3031. Sessions typically last no more than 50 minutes and are usually scheduled in advance. Emergencies will be seen as soon as possible. All services are free to Furman students.