Marist Counseling Working to Combat Student Concerns with Response Delays

Previous student event hosted by Marist Counseling Services. Source: Marist Marketing Department

Recent student reports claim that counseling services, an outlet Marist has worked to highlight and promote more this year, is experiencing an office understaffing issue. Although this is not the case, with more full-time positions filled today than before the 2020 shutdown, these rumors emerge in response to anecdotes about delays in response time to service-seeking emails and accessibility to staff. 

“My last experience reaching out, it was just really hard to get a hold of the office. When I did, I would go weeks without hearing from them again.” says one sophomore student, requesting anonymity. “When you physically go into the office, it’s great; the counselors themselves are great, but reaching out through email was not very effective for me.” 

“I’ve had a few friends who needed help, and when they got the courage to reach out, they had bad experiences.” adds another student anonymously. “The office is infamous for not responding to emails for weeks, which can be dangerous if someone has a mental health emergency. It’s not something you can just pause until someone emails you back.” 

Director of Marist Counseling Marisa Moore sees definite validity to this concern. The problem, she believes, likely emerged from a combination of different factors. Over the summer, with Dyson Center renovations, the Marist counseling office moved from its previous location in the Murray Student Center - a shared space with Health Services - to Midrise 113. While this new site has provided much more customizable space and privacy for attendees, it has also caused different delays in accessibility. This includes errors with wifi and connection setup over the summer, student struggles with finding the new office site and most commonly - contact made to health services looking for counseling services. 

“Even though we’re two different offices, we often share students. Both are definitely growing in terms of needs for space.” says Moore. 

Sign advertising Marist Counseling Services office new location in Midrise. Source: Marist Counseling Services

Another factor is the amount of email passing that takes place in scheduling. This school year and last have seen an adjustment back to pre-quarantine numbers. During the shutdown, the office saw a decline in the number of students utilizing services. As a result, email contact has seen an increase once more. 

“We try to encourage students to tell us their availability immediately to get appointments scheduled as fast as we can. Unfortunately, we have had occasional missed opportunities due to a lot of emails at once. Doing this helps minimize the back-and-forth communication that can slow that down.” 

While these factors have played a role, Moore insists that it does not dismiss concerns and that the center is committed to prioritizing resolving this issue. In response to student feedback, she, alongside the rest of the counseling staff, will be reviewing their contact process this upcoming winter for improvements and additions to be made. Recently, they have updated their emailing service to include an ‘automatic reply’ feature for immediate information on next steps, as emails are not responded to outside of office hours. 

“Students should typically hear back from us within 24 business hours,” says Moore. “Any longer than that, you have every right to nudge us. It is totally within a student’s right to follow up with our office, and we are always open to suggestions on how to become more accessible.”

Today, Marist Counseling offers a variety of individual and group session offerings on a short-term bi-weekly model, as well as weekday Virtual Open Clinic hours, campus outreach events and more. In upcoming months, the office hopes to secure an international accreditation for more full-time counselors in the spring, an accreditation that would also create more advocacy opportunities for office roles like the recently implemented BIPOC focus position. 

In the meantime, Moore urges students to continue pursuing services, reach out to their main account when emailing- counselingservices@marist.edu - for the quickest response, and never hesitate to reach out with concerns. Alongside these resources, students are always encouraged to use walk-in services in the event of an emergency. “At the end of the day, when someone is in crisis, we will never turn them away,” adds Moore.