The Counseling Center was busy over the summer planning several opportunities to provide services to UCF students including the Strengths Screening Day which will be held in Ferrell Commons on October 12.

Also coming this fall is the Healthy Knight Expo, October 13—a collaboration with Health Services, Wellness, AOD and several other departments on campus as well as the community. This will be an opportunity for students, faculty and staff to learn more about UCF health services, mental health and community mental health services, and to continue the efforts to decrease the stigma associated with mental health.

In other announcements, the Counseling Center will be expanding their hours of operations this fall and spring to see students until 7 p.m. on Tuesdays. In addition, starting in September, the center began to offer after-hours telephone crisis services for UCF students. The crisis services can be accessed through the Counseling Center’s main phone number, 407.823.2811. The Counseling Center has launch a new Web site called the Community Provider Database at: www.cpd.sdes.ucf.edu. The site will assist people to connect with mental health providers in the community.

Additionally, the center continues to expand the Self Discovery Knights (SDK) program to engage more sophomores and second year students as well as creating a very exciting and focused area called BRIDGES. The BRIDGES program is designed to help student’s “bridge the gap” between different cultures on the UCF campus. The Counseling Center has identified clinicians within the department to be liaisons with different cultural and ethnic student groups on campus.

The Counseling Center is also pleased to announce the Suicide Prevention Program (QPR; Question, Persuade and Refer) has expanded by adding 15 new gatekeeper trainers to its existing group. During Suicide Prevention week of September 5, the QPR trainers focused on assisting each SDES office and the UCF community to be trained.

Also, be sure to mark your calendar to experience The Tunnel of Oppression, which will return in the spring, March 2 and 3, 2011. The Tunnel attempts to tear down a very controversial barrier that divides those who do not understand oppression and those who live it.

The Counseling Center is a department in the Division of Student Development and Enrollment Services.