Mission
The mission of Counseling Services at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock is to empower students to overcome barriers to their academic success by:
- Providing counseling services for university students
- Promoting a culture of community by fostering an atmosphere of caring
Summary Narrative
1) Enhance recruitment and retention efforts to increase enrollment
- Counseling Services (CS) was front and center in its efforts to assist in the many varieties of student orientations including:
- Freshman
- Transfer
- International Students
- Clinton School of Public Service
- Study Abroad Pre Departure Orientation
- “Catch All”
- Veterans Orientation in collaboration with the Vet Center
- Discover Days and Experience UA Little Rock – CS staff volunteered for numerous activities for approximately 900 students.
- Charles W. Donaldson Summer Bridge Academy – Aresh Assadi taught College and Career Readiness to 7 potential UA Little Rock students.
- Student Affairs Recognition Awards – Carolyn Wray was presented with an award for “Recruiting” and Aresh Assadi won for his “Morale Building.”
Strengthen student-friendly operations and customer service
- Let’s Talk!
- Staff volunteered for Residence Hall Move-In Day.
- Student labor training has been revamped and was successfully transferred to Blackboard with an embedded test.
- Counseling Services staff volunteered for Campus Clean Up Day.
Improve diversity and inclusion efforts to provide a safe and inclusive environment for students
- Trojan Wars – In conjunction with Housing, CS hosted Trojan Wars for approximately 40 students as part of the annual Trojan Daze lineup of events. The program provided sex education in an engaging, non-judgemental, and inclusive style/manner/format on topics such as safer sex and abstinence, consent and communication, and maintaining healthy intimate relationships.
- 2nd Annual Self Care Fair – After five years of hosting events every September for National Suicide Prevention Month, Counseling Services decided to take a more positive approach by rebranding it the “Self Care Fair” in an effort to reduce the stigma associated with mental health issues. Based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, the fair was designed to increase self-awareness, build resilience, self-confidence, and belief in one’s ability to cope with life’s uncertainties. Events focused on healthy eating and exercise, mindfulness and relaxation, and personal safety.
- Out of Darkness Campus Walk – Counseling Services collaborated with the Arkansas chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) to host the second annual walk on April 13, 2019. The intent was to encourage conversation about the serious issue of suicide and promote help-seeking from a mental health professional when appropriate. On that rainy, windy day, we had 215 walkers and raised $3500 for AFSP.
- Aresh Assadi represented CS at the First Generation Student Celebration.
- Dr. Mike Kirk participated in the CSSC Sexual Assault Panel.
- Diversity Council – The mission of the council is to improve diversity, inclusion, equality, and global understanding within the campus community by promoting dialogue, providing information, and fostering respect for all students, faculty, and staff. Hyginus Ukadike represents CS on the council lending his voice and expertise to the inclusive message and focus of the council.
Align financial and human resources to operate more effectively and efficiently
- NEED SOMETHING ABOUT KIRK/ASSADI PROMOTIONS
- Fundraising – Counseling Services continued its fundraising with approximately $6,000.00 given in cash and in-kind donations for the UA Little Rock Food Pantry and CS programming such as the Self Care Fair, Trojan Wars, and Out of the Darkness Campus Walk.
- Alumni and Development – 100% of CS staff donated to the Campus Campaign, scholarships, or both.
- Clinical Internship Placement Site – During the academic year, CS provided clinical training and opportunities to intern students from the School of Social Work and Rehabilitation Counseling programs. These interns provided XXX counseling sessions for our students. To date, CS has hosted XXX clinical interns since fall 2009.
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP) – EAP was provided office space and staff support two days per month to facilitate counseling appointments for faculty and staff.
Promote student development, engagement, and leadership
- Dr. Mike Kirk participated in the Greek Panel Discussion.
- Career Readiness for CLC, TRIO, and SSS.
Other
Committees:
- Arkansas Collegiate Drug Education Committee (ACDEC)
- Title IX Training Team
- Diversity Council
- Campus Campaign Steering Committee
- Trojan Daze Planning Committee
- We Heart Our Students Committee
- Student Affairs Leadership Academy
- UA Little Rock Care Committee
- Covid-19 Emergency Response Team
- AFSP Committee
At A Glance
Our Clinical Numbers
- 3,029 individual clinical appointments. This signifies an upsurge of 257 counseling sessions, a 9.26 % increase over last year.
- 650+ students attended the Self Care Fair
- 215 students participated in the Out of the Darkness Walk
- 40 students attended Trojan Wars
- 9 students viewed the CS specific link (ualr.at/getinvolved) to explore potential clubs & organizations
Advocacy, Collaboration, Programming & Presentation Numbers
CS prides itself on its outstanding customer services and eagerness to advocate, educate, and help students who utilize our services. In addition, CS staff readily volunteer to help out across the campus community to assist colleagues from various campus offices with myriad types of programming and events as evidenced by the following:
- 46 students benefited from CS staff personally advocating for them with Financial Aid, Bursar & Student Accounts, Admissions, Records & Registration, Disability Resource Center and professors as well as with the provision of reference and referral letters. This is an increase of 28 students (155%) over the previous year.
- 1,781 individuals participated in recruitment, retention, and orientation programming and training. CS staff provided and/or assisted with new, transfer, resident assistants, international, athletics, Clinton School, Bowen School of Law, BSW, and CLC orientations. Further, CS participated in parent programs and many aspects of RA training.
- 2,040 students participated in programming in which CS staff directed, facilitated, or collaborated to bring to fruition. Examples include Campus Living Move-In Day,Trojan Wars, the McNair Symposium, the Student Wellness Fair, the Self Care Fair, Out of Darkness Campus Walk, and the Pancake Dinner.
Assessment 1
Type of assessment (learning outcome or operational)
Operational
Goal
Establish “Let’s Talk” Offsite Drop-In Consultation opportunities
Activity or experience being assessed
Provide opportunity for student to consult informally with a mental health professional in setting other than Counseling Services offices
Assessment artifacts
Participation count to assess the number of students who used the service. Survey question on satisfaction survey of clients asking if they ever attended a ‘Let’s Talk’ session.
Time period assessment was done
March 2020, Due to COVID-19, CS did not complete assessment
Results
n/a
Continuous improvement process
COVID-19 impacted our ability to carry this goal out. We are going to create online versions of Let’s Talk as a response
WHEN: Fall 2020
Stateholder involvement / Communication plan
Stakeholders will be two of the following: Campus Living, College of Business, Athletics, TRIO, Summer Bridge Academy and/or College of Nursing
CS and the external department directors
Assessment 2
Type of assessment (learning outcome or operational)
Operational
Goal
Collaborate with Health Services & Disability Resource Center to provide 2 professional development/CEU opportunities
Activity or experience being assessed
Webinars
Assessment artifacts
Completion of certificates of individual participants, and two-question questionnaire
Time period assessment was done
Summer 2020
COVID-19 impacted our ability to carry this goal out. We have responded by modifying our goals and assessments for the next school year
Results
n/a
Continuous improvement process
n/a
WHEN:
Stateholder involvement / Communication plan
Staff of CS, HS, and DRC
Share assessment results with directors
Assessment 3
Type of assessment (learning outcome or operational)
CAS- Practical Competence
Goal
Create Counseling Services-specific student worker training in Blackboard and incorporate customer services training into the curriculum
Activity or experience being assessed
Student worker training provided via Blackboard.
Assessment artifacts
Mastery exam passed with a grade of 100% by all student workers. Questions will be related to what they learned from the training, with open ended questions.
Time period assessment was done
Spring 2020
Results
All support staff passed exam with 100% score
Support staff provided feedback on how to improve the training
Continuous improvement process
Feedback was given on how to improve the Blackboard shell. We shortened several sections and we added an FAQ section.
We are going to subtract long wordy sections and add more videos/images in order to make the training a little more entertaining and easier to navigate.
WHEN: Fall 2020
Stateholder involvement / Communication plan
CS staff and student workers
Support Staff meetings
Assessment 4
Type of assessment (learning outcome or operational)
Operational and CAS
Goal
Educate students about available support that can be found on campus and/or elsewhere
Activity or experience being assessed
Self Care Fair
Assessment artifacts
Self Care Fair survey
Time period assessment was done
9/18/2019
Results
Responses for “What did you learn and what feedback do you have?”
Continuous improvement process
Utilize results to plan future events, and fine-tune the list of participating units and organizations. Share participants’ comments regarding strategies for self care they learned, to help everyone make improvements for next year.
Students provided an array of suggestions for other Self Care activities that they will like to learn more about such as: Hygiene, Safe Sex, Goal Setting, Time Management, Financial Literacy.
Using the suggestions we will bring in experts who can set up tables to address these topics that were not addressed in the 2019 Self Care Fair.
WHEN: 2020-21
Stateholder involvement / Communication plan
Planning meetings with the Self Care Fair committee to discuss the event and survey responses.
