Diversity & Equitable Access
For Life-Threatening Emergencies
Call Anytime: 911 or 336.758.5911
For Urgent Mental Health Crises
Call Us Anytime: 336.758.5273
To Make an Appointment
Call Us During Office Hours
Monday-Friday
(8:30AM – 5PM)
336.758.5273
Crisis Assistance
For urgent mental health needs, crisis assistance is available anytime, from anywhere, by calling us at 336.758.5273. During normal business hours, calling this number will connect you with our administrative assistant who can help assess your needs and direct you to therapy options. After-hours and on weekends, this number will connect you with a crisis counselor.
The Wake Forest University Counseling Center is committed to providing culturally sensitive services to the campus community and developing the multicultural capacities of its staff. Students come to us with varying experiences specific to their racial and ethnic membership, gender, sexual identity, social class, religious affiliation, nationality, and/or disability status. We strive to offer services and programs that are inclusive, and give voice to these varied experiences, by providing a place for others to be brave, heard, appreciated, and accepted.
As mental health professionals, we strive to promote equity for those who are differently abled. We affirm the right of all individuals to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or gender expansive, queer and/or questioning, intersex, asexual, and two-spirit. We work professionally and personally toward the end of all forms of institutional and societal sexism and racism. We are sensitive to current extremes of religious and ethnic persecution and the resulting trauma. We acknowledge the right of individuals to affirm a personal set of religious and cultural beliefs while simultaneously respecting others’ differing beliefs. As mental health professionals, we recognize the need to make all of these issues high priorities in our work to ensure basic human rights for all people.
Our Approach to Equitable Access
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been vast and far reaching. We at the University Counseling Center are committed to providing support to our students during this time. We recognize that everyone has not been impacted by the pandemic equally, and that those individuals and communities who have been marginalized by those with privileged identities within our society have experienced greater hardship. We also acknowledge ways that mental health services have historically upheld these systems of white supremacy and oppression, creating unequal access to competent and safe therapeutic spaces.
Our commitment to social justice, anti-racism, and dismantling oppressive systems compels us to center the needs of students with marginalized identities, as they are likely to be suffering the most significant impact of the pandemic with the least access to resources. This stance is consistent with the recommendations put forth in the final report by President Hatch’s commission on Race, Equity, and Community. As we head into this semester, we continue to be available for crisis support 24/7. No student will be left without support when they need it. In addition, we are encouraging students who are already linked with a mental health provider to continue that relationship virtually, as this is being permitted by North Carolina licensure boards. Students who have access to means to see a community provider who is a good clinical fit will be assisted by the counseling center staff to connect with those services. Students who experience multiple barriers to accessing quality services outside the center will be prioritized to receive counseling services within the center.