Counseling Resources at Harvard
Do you just need someone to talk to? An objective, outside voice? Someone who is experienced in helping people with issues similar to yours? Here are some resources available within the Harvard community:
Harvard University Mental Health Services
617. 495. 2042
Emergencies, nights and weekends: 617. 495.
5711
Harvard University Health Services, 4th Floor
Mental health clinicians are available to help students address a full range of personal issues that include stress-related symptoms such as sleep, appetite and concentration problems, anxiety, depression, relationship problems, interpersonal difficulties, violence, trauma, bereavement, eating concerns, and general life issues. They provide individual, group (issue focused and interpersonal) and couples psychotherapy. All are trained and experienced in dealing with issues specific to university students and, as with all HUHS care, these services are confidential. Sessions with mental health clinicians are free.
There is a triage system where brief phone appointments are set up with an experienced clinician who will review your concerns and arrange for follow-up. There are four hours of urgent care available each weekday for students who feel they need same-day access. If you cannot get immediate access, contact Laura Snowdon, and she will intervene on your behalf (617. 496. 1236, or lsnowdon@gsd.harvard.edu). If she is unavailable, just walk over to Mental Health and they will fit you in.
Law School Satellite of HUHS
617. 495. 4414
Basement, Pound Hall
The Law School branch of Health Services is
staffed by the same physicians and mental
health clinicians as the Holyoke Center
facility. Often, appointments can be
scheduled sooner, and it is no farther to walk.
Center for Wellness and
Health Communication ( CWHC)
617. 495. 9629
Holyoke Center, 2nd floor
CWHC is the best little-known resource in all of Harvard. 50 minute massages for only $55.00, walk-in chair messages, free meditation classes and various physical therapies. Group and individual appointments for a variety of wellness classes are available. Speak confidentially with a health or nurse educator about any issue affecting your health or well-being.
IN COMMON
617-384-TALK
Sunday-Thursday, 8:00pm to midnight,
excluding Harvard holidays
In Common is the peer counseling hotline for Harvard’s graduate and professional schools. Volunteer graduate student staffers offer support and refer students to resources on a variety of issues such as loneliness and alienation, uncertainty about careers, academic or financial problems, or difficulties in relationships. No issue is too big or small. The line is open throughout the academic year, Sunday through Thursday, 8:00pm to midnight, excluding Harvard holidays. Calls are anonymous and confidential. No caller ID. Student volunteers are trained and supervised by professionals from University Health Services (UHS) and the Bureau of Study Counsel. For more information or to become a volunteer, visit our website or give us a call.
United Ministry at Harvard
617. 495. 5529
Memorial Church, Ground Floor, Harvard Yard
Mon-Fri 9am-5pm
The United Ministry, the University’s interfaith coalition of chaplains, offers programs, worship events, and provides confidential counsel to students in the Harvard community. Whether your concern is an issue of spirituality, an ethical question or a personal crisis, the United Ministry is available to students for confidential counseling. Claplains agree to honor the religious freedom, human dignity, conscience, personal spiritual welfare, and the religious tradition of each person to whom they minister.
University Ombudsman Office
Holyoke Center, Suite 748
1350 Massachusetts Avenue
617.495.7748
university_ombudsman@harvard.edu
Lydia Cummings, Ombudsman
The University Ombudsman Office provides a neutral, confidential place to discuss informal approaches to resolving workplace or academic problems. Open to all Harvard ID holders, the ombuds can help suggest different approaches to addressing a situation or solving a problem.
Office of Sexual Assault Prevention
and Response
340 Holyoke Center
Susan Marine, Director
24 hour information line: 617. 495. 9100
The Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response was established in 2003 to provide confidential support, information, and resource referrals to survivors of sexual violence, and to educate the University community about sexual assault, its prevention, and its impact. The Office coordinates on- and off-campus resources to develop a collaborative and effective response to sexual violence. Harvard students may access these services by calling the Office or by coming to the Office. The Office provides confidential, 24- hour information and assistance for students who have experienced sexual assault and related forms of interpersonal violence including sexual harassment and relationship abuse – call 5-9100 to activate this response. Staff will assist with referrals and explanation of options, including options for medical and mental health care, reporting, and adjudication. The OSAPR also provides consultation and support for friends, partners, and others concerned about a sexual assault survivor.
Harvard Mental Health Support Groups
Each semester, Harvard University Mental Health
Services offers a wide range of support
groups for students, faculty and staff.
For an updated list and days and times,
please consult their website: www.
huhs.harvard.edu, or call 617. 495.
2042.
Below are groups that are consistently offered.
Eating Concerns Group
Group for students/staff with eating concerns—anorexia, bulimia, compulsive overeating. Focus is on understanding eating patterns with some work on symptoms. Usually graduate students, sometimes older undergraduates also join.
Life Raft
Drop-in support groups where people can talk about their own or others' life-threatening illness or about their grief and bereavement. Open to anyone connected with the Harvard Community: students, faculty, families and staff. Free and confidential. Come for 10 minutes or 2 hours.
Sleep!
Some quotes from students:
Sleep at least three or four hours the night before a review because if you cannot remember anything anyone says about the work you stayed up a week to make, well, you're not only tired but exactly where you were a week ago.
One all-nighter makes everything in its wake a bad spell. (Two drive you to the hospital, and three to the psychiatrist!)
Do not EVER work all night; do not let fatigue interfere with lectures, readings, eating, relationships.
Most students do not get enough of it, and lack of it will lower your resistance to physical and emotional illnesses and definitely interfere with your concentration, judgment and perspective.
Waking Up to How We Sleep and Dream (Harvard Gazette, November 17, 2005)
The Big Picture (Matthew Walker, Sleep Researcher, Harvard Gazette, October 17, 2002)
Just sleep on it: And empty the brain's 'in box' (Harvard Gazette, October 26, 2000)
Women's Support Group
Women meeting for mutual support. An opportunity to seek and give support around work, family, health, and other topics.