Counseling Services
General Announcements
All services are free of charge (except labs and prescriptions), including our mental health telehealth service, My SSP.
One Schacht Center = You can reach our counseling, medical and wellness teams by calling 413-585-2800.
For questions about COVID-19, please email testingandtracing@smith.edu.
Sonic Meditations on Wednesdays in February
A joint collaboration between Counseling Services and the Music Department with support from SWG, this interactive series is open to students, staff and faculty. You are welcome to any of the four events, but we encourage you to come for all of them in an effort to build community.
Developed by queer, feminist, experimental artist Pauline Oliveros in the early 1970s, the Sonic Meditations are a group of sonic explorations open to anyone who wants to participate. These meditations are geared toward healing, breath work, presence, communication, and the "tuning of mind and body." No musical experience or background is required. Oliveros wrote, “music is a welcome by-product” of the Meditations--not their starting point. Over the course of four sessions, we will explore four different Sonic Meditations. These can be done with any size group, and it is within the group that listening is both made and needed.
February 1, 8, 15, and 22 from 4:45pm-5:30pm in the Neilson Library Browsing Room
Announcements J-Term 2023
The Counseling Service sees students on campus for individual appointments (continuing, crisis, single session or same day). Please check the patient portal or call 1-413-585-2800 to schedule.
My SSP continues to be a free and confidential support service for urgent and non-urgent matters 24/7. You can call 1-855-950-6318 or when we are closed you can dial 1-413-585-2800, option 2. No insurance is needed and you can access from anywhere in the world. You can chat or schedule video appointments by downloading the My SSP app or through their website at myssp.app
Counseling Groups for Spring 2023 (most require registration)
Mondays:
Support for International Students 12:15 - 1:10 pm with Meg Laird
Mwangi Center Drop-in for Students of Color 4-5:30 pm with Mahajoy Laufer
Healing from Disordered Eating 4:15-530 with Greenlee Brown
Tuesdays:
Survivors of Sexual and Dating Violence 4:15-5:30 with Michelle Marchese and Victoria Coons
TGNC Group 12:10-1:15 with Greenlee Brown
DBT Skills Group 12:15- 1:10 with Noah Cochran
Wednesdays:
Survivors of Sexual and Dating Violence 12:15-1:10pm with Michelle Marchese and Suzie Goldstein
Undocumented Student Support 4:30-5:30pm with Mahajoy Laufer
Thursdays:
Loss Group for Students of Color with Mahajoy Laufer and Aaliyah Bell
Fridays:
Grief Support 12:15 - 1:10 pm with Meg Laird and Noah Cochran
Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse 2:15-3:30pm with Michelle Marchese and Alex Watson
ADHD Support and Study Group 3-4:30 Elena Volpe and Kayla Crowe
Please register for groups by emailing couselingservices@smith.edu or calling 413-585-2800. You may sign up for drop-in Mwangi spots through the patient portal or by dropping by Mwangi.
Our Mission
The Counseling Service is a free and confidential service available to all students. Our commitment is to provide mental health care that is:
- relationally based
- culturally responsive
- identity affirming
- equitable and inclusive
- individualized
The Counseling Service strives to promote inclusive and socially-just clinical services that honor the specific strengths and needs of the full range of diverse identities represented within the Smith College campus community. The Counseling Service recognizes that systematic and institutionalized factors such as racism/white supremacy, classism/poverty, ableism, sex negativity, fatphobia, heteronormativity, and cisnormativity continue to exist both on- and off-campus and these forces have a negative impact on the emotional health of our campus community. Our services work to attend to and recognize the harm caused by these factors.
Care is masked and in-person at the Schacht Center, but teleheath appointments with our therapists are available at the student’s request.
How to Get Help/Schedule an Appointment
- 24/7 by phone: 413-585-2800 (after hours phone service available)
- By email: counselingservices@smith.edu
- SOME appointments are available online through the Patient Portal
Our administrative office is open 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m. on weekdays.
Overview of Services
- assessment
- crisis intervention
- individual therapy
- a variety of ever-changing groups (affinity and special interest)
- psychiatric assessments
- psychiatric medication treatment
- off-campus referrals
- advocacy
- trans-affirming documentation
- identity-affirming care
- educational workshops & outreach
- some case management
- consultation with campus community partners
My Student Support Program
The Smith College Counseling Service (SCCS) offers My Student Support Program (My SSP) to all enrolled undergraduate and graduate students (including students studying abroad), no matter the student’s location. My SSP is a supplemental service not provided by Smith College staff that administers immediate and ongoing 24-hour support at no cost to students, regardless of their health insurance provider. With My SSP you can:
- Call or text with a licensed therapist directly from your cell phone from any location for immediate support.
- Schedule ongoing support by appointment, available through phone or secure video portal.
- Request support in over 150 languages.
- Receive a referral for Nurx, a supplemental psychiatric medication provider telehealth service, from a SCCS or My SSP therapist or from a Smith College Health Services prescriber.
- Gain access to a range of online, self-directed wellness and fitness materials.
Students can access My SSP with a phone or computer by:
- Download the free My SSP App through the Apple App store or Google Play; select Smith College when prompted.
- Visiting the My SSP website.
Important COVID-19 Information
For updates on Smith’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak, please visit the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) page.