NORTHRIDGE : CSUN Now Offering Low-Cost Counseling

Low-cost therapy sessions for individuals, families and groups are now available through a community counseling center at Cal State Northridge.

The counseling will be conducted by students in the master’s degree program of CSUN’s educational psychology and counseling department and supervised by faculty members.

The center had been scheduled to offer a full range of counseling session beginning in January. But because of the Northridge earthquake, it began providing free post-traumatic stress therapy for earthquake victims who live in the neighborhoods surrounding the campus.

“This semester we are gearing up to getting together with (the Los Angeles Unified School District) on approaching all of the 47 schools in the area and reaching out to all of those schools . . . to help them with post-traumatic stress,” said Estee Diamond, program coordinator.

Throughout the summer, Diamond said, student counselors have worked with children and adults whose mental health has yet to return to pre-quake normality.

“People are still calling us; they are having trouble sleeping and are unable to continue in their jobs,” Diamond said.

The counselors also have helped people who are depressed, do not feel safe because of the quake and suffer from somatic symptoms such as headaches.

In addition to quake-related therapy, the center will start providing counseling for individuals on personal development and social/relationship problems.

Participants will pay for the therapy on a sliding scale based on their financial situations. For more information about quake counseling, call (800) 854-7771. For general counseling, call (818) 885-2568.