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Personal Development and Counseling (PDC) services is located in the Wellness Center and is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Our services are designed from a "wellness" perspective and support the University's mission to develop the whole person: personally, academically, socially, spiritually, and physically. Our services promote lifelong learning, provide you with the appropriate skills to encourage you to be well-rounded citizens and live healthy lifestyles. The following services are available to all Northwest students regardless of age, sex, race, or ability. University faculty and staff may come in for consultation and referral assistance.
The staff at the PDC are professionally trained to handle a host of needs ranging from depression, anxiety, and sleep deprivation - to providing tips on stress management, healthy relationships and personal development.
Students often come to PDC with the kinds of concerns and interests listed below:
Staff members can help students explore, understand, and work through concerns and challenges on a one-to-one basis. Individual personal counseling can help students find alternatives, expand choices and overcome obstacles that interfere with personal development, a sense of well-being and academic success.
PDC operates primarily on a brief therapy model. Our experience and research shows that most students who seek services at counseling centers get the assistance they need within one to four sessions. Some students need a bit more and receive up to 6 sessions, per semester which is the limit. For situations that may require long-term counseling, PDC can assist you in finding appropriate community resources.
The reason we offer short-term counseling is because it is the best method of reaching the greatest number of students. We serve the entire Northwest student body, and we want to make sure everyone has a chance to get what they need.
Students often benefit most from sharing information, experiences, and support with students with similar concerns. Groups typically involve 1-2 counselors with 6-8 students, and they usually meet weekly or biweekly for 60-90 minutes.
We are available to consult with students, faculty and staff for:
Our outreach programming represents our commitment to reach out beyond our office walls to the Northwest community. In presenting our educational workshops, seminars, classroom presentations, and events we have the goal of helping Northwest students to be resilient and self-aware as possible. If we can help students learn about stress management and positive psychology before they get too stressed-out; about eating problems before they get too caught up in their diets; about getting help for depression before they've been depressed all semester; then we can help them prevent small problems from becoming larger.
We make presentations and facilitate discussions in residence halls, academic classes, student organizations, and faculty/staff groups. Upon request, we will gladly create specific programs geared toward improvement of the mental health and overall success of our campus community. In the past, requested topics have included stress management, positive psychology, understanding depression, guidelines for healthy relationships, how to help a distressed student, motivation, and dealing with grief/loss.