Joel Porter Counseling Center

JP Counseling Center

College life can be stressful, and the Joel Porter Counseling Center is here to support our students at Louisburg College!

The staff of the counseling center offers free, confidential professional mental health support to all students. Call, stop by, or email to make an appointment at the center located in Davis Hall.

Confidentiality is a priority.  Our goal is to provide a safe environment in which to discuss personal issues.  If you seek counseling, you have a right to privacy. The center will not disclose that you have received counseling or the specifics to anyone without your written permission.  Rare exceptions may occur in regards to safety issues or court orders.

The center keeps and files counseling documents in a secure location for their use, separate from all other records, including academic. Much of what you may wish to share is very personal. The Joel Porter Counseling Center joins with the administration of the college in affirming your right to privacy.

The college will not disclose your information without your written permission except for the following reasons:

  • Imminent Harm to Others: If the center has reason to believe that you are seriously threatening physical violence against another person, or if you have a history of physically violent behavior, and if the center believes that you are an actual threat to the safety of another person, they will take action. They may contact the police, seek hospitalization, notify another person, or a combination to ensure the other person’s protection.
  • Imminent Harm to Self: If the center has reason to believe you are in danger of physically harming yourself or are unable to follow treatment recommendations, they may take steps. They may arrange for an evaluation off-campus and contact a family member or another person to help protect you.
  • Abuse of Children or Disable Adults: If the center has reason to believe that anyone is abusing or neglecting a child under the age of 18 or a disabled adult, the center is legally obligated to report the situation to the appropriate state agency.
  • Legal Compliance: If a court of law or the Department of Homeland Security orders the release of certain information, we are legally required to comply with this order.
Counseling does not tell you what to do, how to feel, or who to be; counseling can, however, help you clarify goals and find solutions to problems through careful listening, guided self-exploration, and new perspectives and information. Counseling services provide brief mental health counseling and related support. These services help Louisburg College students identify barriers, improve coping skills and achieve personal goals. Joel Counseling Services utilizes six short-term individual therapy and group therapy models to meet significant student demand and use our resources effectively.
Any student currently enrolled at Louisburg College is eligible to see a counselor free of charge.
Any information you share with the Joel Porter Counseling Center staff is confidential and stored separately from your academic records. Students may discuss the legalities of releasing information with the counseling center staff.

See Toni Cochis, Director of the Joel Porter Counseling Center - 104 Davis Hall - (919) 497-3420

We are unable to provide counseling or psychological advice through email.

If there are needs beyond what the center’s model accommodates, it will refer those students to an outside community provider. The student bears the cost of external services. Such referrals might occur immediately following an intake, or they might occur after some treatment and a further assessment of need has taken place.

Some examples of clinical concerns that result in a referral to an outside treatment provider are:

  • Individuals with chronic mental health conditions that require long-term, ongoing care
  • Clinical presentations, such as some personality disorders that indicate short-term therapy may be ineffective or detrimental
  • A need or desire to see a counselor more frequently than the center can accommodate.
  • Chronic suicidal thoughts or recent history of multiple suicide attempts
  • Severe and chronic self-injury
  • A history of multiple psychiatric hospitalizations
  • Court-ordered treatment
  • Psychological testing and assessment
  • Active symptoms of psychosis at risk for progressive deterioration

Concerns that require a more specialized form of care than can be provided at the Joel Counseling Services, including:

  • Significant or chronic disordered eating symptoms
  • Significant or chronic substance use which requires long-term therapy or a higher level of care