Free help in tough times

For more than a decade, it remained a hidden jewel of the East Orlando community, a resource only used by those fortunate enough to hear about it.

But not for long. As the recession causes more stress for families, relationships and individuals, more people are seeking a low-cost means of help. And you can’t get much cheaper than the University of Central Florida’s Community Counseling Clinic.

For 11 years, it has remained the only free counseling clinic in the Orlando area, serving about 1,100 clients a year — a number that is growing thanks to the economy and word-of-mouth.

Emma Kendrick, a counselor at the clinic, said that new clients have been expressing anxiety over issues related to job loss and income problems.

“As far as the numbers at the clinic, I don’t know if people have been coming in only because we have free services,” she said. “I do hear a lot about people not having insurance and wanting help for their kids or their spouse and that’s why they seek help.”

Clinic administrator Dallas Wilkes agreed. “We have a lot of people come in who have lost their jobs, who are realizing that this avenue and resource is here.”

With the way the economy is right now, both Kendrick and Wilkes believe more people would come to the clinic if they knew the service was here.

The clinic has a constant wait list, but school counselors or other agencies referred most of those people seeking help. “When people call in, they become really excited about having this as a resource that they may not have known about for however long,” Kendrick said.

To handle the demand, the clinic’s staff would like to see it expand and create more of a connection to the community. This would make sure everyone who would need such services are privy to them. But this seems unlikely to happen in the immediate future because of budgetary constraints.

For now, with no advertising dollars in the budget, the master’s students and interns at the clinic conduct community outreach, letting people know free help is available.

Sometimes though, the reason many are left untreated has little to do with people being unaware of the clinic or not being able to afford counseling elsewhere.

“I also think there are some cultural stigmas to counseling especially in the Florida area,” Wilkes said. “A lot of times people see counseling as a weakness, and that’s why they don’t seek help, or they think you have to have very serious issues to see a counselor.”

Even though the clinic is free, the staff there assures that they offer quality counseling.

“The quality of the counseling here is actually very high; we have almost all the training as professional counselors,” said Jesse Kovalcik, an intern who will be graduating in August and serves 12 clients a week. “When you’re just starting out, you’re more motivated to do well and information is fresh in your mind. The real difference here is that we are really focused on our clients. I don’t think there’s any other counseling program that gives as much feedback.”

The clinic offers individual, couple and family counseling. It is staffed by one faculty member, who serves as the director, three doctoral students as administrators, four interns and 45-50 practicum students. The students are assigned a client based on their academic level. Typically, the administrators and interns are assigned to clients with more serious issues.

Sessions are monitored and recorded by a digital system and observed by a faculty member or a graduate level student studying clinical supervision. In some instances, the counselor is bugged and receives direct supervision from their higher-up. This allows different perspectives to come into play with a client’s issues and can help maximize a client’s progress in getting better, Wilkes said. “Clients may be weary at first to receive counseling from students or be monitored, but they eventually see that the quality is there.”

Leah Limbaugh, another intern, thinks the clinic’s collaborative work makes it a great place to receive mental health counseling. “Instead of seeing just one counselor, it’s like the patient gets to have two or three counselors.”

“It’s like getting two counselors for the price of none,” Dr. Bryce Hagedorn, the clinic director added.

Learn more

The Community Counseling Clinic at UCF is the only free counseling clinic in Central Florida. They provide a range of mental health services including individual, group or couple’s therapy. Visit education.ucf.edu/ccc