History of the Community Counseling Center

History of the Community Counseling Center

Counseling programs have been an intrinsic component of FGCU’s graduate program since the university opened in 1997.

While it’s long been a goal of the university to establish a Counseling Center in which the community could access services and graduate students could gain experience through supervised internships, there were many priorities that needed attention as the university grew before this could become a reality. 

Photo of studentsIn 2016, the Bartley family made a gift to improve and expand curriculum in Counseling, making it possible to establish the counseling center. After assessing community resources, there was a realization that many children, couples and families have unmet needs that a university program could help alleviate. As a result, the counseling program has an entire floor in a new building designed specifically for the functions it carries out. That includes faculty offices and a counseling center in which graduate-student interns under supervision can provide much-needed counseling services to residents of the region. 

Graduate-student counselors will assist clients in dealing with conditions such as depression, anxiety, crisis and trauma, relationships and family dynamics as well as play counseling, consultations for school performance and the introduction of distance counseling technologies. 

Services are offered to members of the community in both English and Spanish at an affordable rate. 

Graduate students need quality training and members of the community need affordable, quality services. Here is where they will meet.