Student Intranet - Support

Psychological Counselling Support

ECU provides free, confidential psychological counselling support  to all currently enrolled ECU students residing in Australia* to address any personal or mental health issues that impact their studies.

What we do

Psychologists can provide you with emotional support, help you understand the problems you have and assist you to find new solutions and new ways of coping. Sometimes, specialised support or treatment from other agencies may be required. If this needs to happen, your Psychologist will discuss a referral  with you.

You can talk to an ECU Psychologist about anything that is causing you concern, such as:

• Balancing study, life and work
• Managing your time effectively
• Cultural adjustment and living away from home
• Feeling stressed, anxious or depressed
• Difficulty studying, worrying about achievement, doing presentations and exams
• Problems in relationships with family, friends and partners
• If you are having issues around identity
• If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts or difficulties with thoughts around harming yourself
• If you have experienced abuse (physical or emotional), sexual assault or sexual harassment (current or past).

If you have been sexually assaulted or experience any form of sexual harassment by either a staff member or another student and would like to report this, you can submit a report online via the Sexual assault and sexual harassment page.

Out of Hours Crisis Line for ECU students

Call 1300 583 032 or text 0488 884 232

This phone support service operates from 4.30pm to 8.30am on weekdays, and 24 hours on weekends, providing students with mental health and well-being support.

The service is intended to help callers find immediate relief from emotional distress, safely manage any immediate threats to life or safety, open pathways for longer-term solutions and focus specific next steps for the caller to take.

How do I make an appointment?

If you would like to make an appointment on any campus, please contact the telephone number below hours.

Please have a pen and your student number close by as our receptionist will ask you for your details. You will receive an email confirming your appointment the day before. This will be sent to your ECU Student email address. If you are unable to attend your appointment, please let us know as soon as possible. That way, we can offer the appointment to someone else.

Things to note about our service

• ECU Psychological Counselling Support may not provide supporting documentation for extensions, deferrals or withdrawals as a matter of course if you have not engaged with our service previously. If you are wanting documentation, please advise reception when making your appointment so this information can be provided to your Counsellor. There are circumstances in which documentation can be provided, however this will be at the discretion of the Counsellor and in consultation with the Manager of Psychological Counselling Support.
• If you are new to our service or have not attended in the last 6 months, we will book you in for a triage appointment. Booking must be made on the same day. You can contact reception from 8:30am on the day. Please be aware triage appointment times are limited and are booked in on a first in, first served basis.
• The service provides daily emergency appointments for urgent situations (not study related) at 1.30pm and 2.00pm on standard operating days. These are to assess your risk only.
• You must contact Psychological Counselling Support directly to book and appointment for consent and privacy considerations. Appointments for students cannot be made or requested by friends, lecturers or family members.
• Children are not permitted in counselling sessions. If you do have children, we ask that you leave them with a friend/family member for your session.
• Appointments are for students only. Family members/friends are not to be part of the counselling session. It is up to the Counsellor’s discretion if a friend or family member may be required in session and this is done in consultation with the student during the session.

*If you are an ECU Student residing overseas, we are unable to provide psychological services for legal reasons, however you can still make contact with ECU Psychological Counselling Support and we will endeavour to assist you to locate someone within your area that you can engage with.

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