Counseling & Psychological Services

Personal Counseling

Personal counselors are here to help you identify and accomplish your academic and career goals, enhance your personal development, meet life's challenges, and improve your interpersonal relationships. We offer brief therapy sessions to individuals and couples who are matriculated students of San José State University.

You do not need to be in significant distress to seek counseling. Sometimes our beliefs or expectations of ourselves, or of counseling, results in a delay in seeking help until situations become serious. While no issue is too big or small, many students tell us that they wish they had come to counseling sooner. Start the journey now and seek counseling earlier rather than later.

Individual Counseling

Individual counseling facilitates the exploration and resolution of personal problems and issues according to the needs of the individual.

Some of the issues often addressed in individual counseling are:

  • Stress
  • Don't know how to cope with life circumstances
  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Self-esteem
  • Identity issues, including cultural, religious, gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender, etc.
  • Body image, eating disorders
  • Loneliness
  • Difficulty forming or maintaining healthy relationships
  • Physical or emotional abuse (past or present)
  • Cross-cultural issues (including cultural conflicts between parents & child)
  • Difficulty defining problems
  • Marked changes in functioning
  • Irritability
  • Changes in thinking or perceptual abilities
  • Difficulty setting limits with others

Couples Counseling

Sometimes people who care about each other encounter impasses in their ability to resolve issues in their relationship. Personal counselors can help couples improve self-awareness, insight, communication, and relationship skills, particularly when couples attend together.

Personal counselors utilize a variety of interventions to assist couples in resolving problems. Couples may be given assignments to work on, either as a couple or individually. Couples counseling is often complicated by one or both of the individuals having significant unresolved personal issues. It is important for participants to be willing to address their own internal issues as well as the personal issues of the other person in a non-blaming and constructive manner.

How to see a personal counselor

If you have never had counseling at the Student Wellness Center, please call our office at 408-924-5678 or stop by to schedule your initial session. The purpose of this initial meeting is to understand your needs so that we can guide you to appropriate resources such as groups and/or workshops, brief therapy, or referral to an outside counseling agency. 

If you have been to us within the past year and would like to return, please call to schedule an appointment. A counselor will discuss your options for services.


Groups

Groups are a great way for you to connect with peers, learn new skills and strategies, and grow, both emotionally and educationally!  

We offer numerous types of groups that get students interacting and connecting to help each other. 

Groups are often the most effective way to:

  • Gain support and encouragement from others
  • Learn how you are perceived by others
  • Gain specific skills to improve your life
  • Develop relationship skills

Ground rules, including confidentiality, are typically established with group members to help promote trust. For most benefit, consistent attendance is strongly encouraged. 

Some groups may require registration. To register, visit the Student Wellness Center Patient Portal

If the event is online and the link is not provided below, you must log-in to the Student Wellness Center Patient Portal at the time of the event to retrieve the link. 

If a group requires a referral to attend, please call (408) 924-5678 to make an appointment.


Psychology (Doctoral) Training

CAPS also hosts an APA-Accredited Health Service Psychology Internship Program and Multicultural Postdoctoral Residency program. Both training programs are essential to the values of CAPS to provide multicultural and social justice-oriented training and services, and are an important part of our center. Please visit links for both programs for more information.