Louisiana Tech’s Counseling Services have been re-accredited by the International Association of Counseling Services (IACS), making it one of six university accredited counseling services in the state.

Director of Counseling Services Ron Cathey said he felt good about the review of his program.

“It’s encouraging and it shows that we’re doing something right because somebody from the outside looked objectively at [our] services,” Cathey said. “Compared to other universities, our counseling services rank among the best.”

Tech’s Counseling Services have to go through the re-accreditation process every three years and has been accredited since 1992.

“It’s something my predecessors have made easy,” Cathey said. “I stepped into a great department. We have a staff of five full-time workers and a consulting psychologist who comes in one day a week along with three doctoral students who serve as interns.”
After a report was submitted by the Counseling Center to IACS, a site visitor came to Tech and met with Center employees, university police, students, the Residential Life Office and President Dan Reneau, along with others.

“It took about eight months of preparation, and then it’s a long process once the site visitor gets here because they have a long list of questions based off the report we sent in,” Cathey said. “It’s quite an extensive process.”

Tech’s Counseling Services includes career decision-making as well as any other personal counseling a student, faculty or staff member desires.

“We can handle any kind of counseling needs,” Cathey said. “And we have a strong Career Center which has some special relations with some corporations that tend to hire a lot of Tech graduates.”

Louisiana Tech’s Counseling Services’ mission statement says it strives to identify student needs in regard to academic achievement, emotional/psychological and physical health, career involvement and responsible decision-making. Through counseling, crisis intervention, educational programming and counselor training, services are delivered which address these needs in guiding the student toward the fulfillment of his/her fullest potential intellectually, emotionally, socially, physically and spiritually.

By T. Scott Boatright, News Bureau Writer

Written by Judith Roberts