From Demand Management to Campus Transformation: A 14-Year Retrospective on Building a Comprehensive College Counseling Center Outreach Strategy

Date: Friday, December 4^th at 12 pm ET, 11 am CT, 10 am MT and 9 am PT

Cost:
Members - $30
Non-Members - $40

Title: From Demand Management to Campus Transformation: A 14-Year Retrospective on Building a Comprehensive College Counseling Center Outreach Strategy

Presenters: Harry Warner, MA, LPCC-S

Abstract:

Over the past two decades, college counseling centers have faced unprecedented demand for services, increasing clinical acuity, growing expectations for mental health support, and persistent challenges related to stigma, mental health literacy, and campus engagement. At Ohio State University’s Counseling and Consultation Service, outreach evolved from a primarily educational and promotional function into a comprehensive, strategic, and data-informed public health intervention designed to enhance student well-being, strengthen campus partnerships, and support sustainable service delivery.

Drawing on 14 years of experience as a staff member, outreach coordinator, and outreach director, this presentation offers a retrospective examination of the development of a comprehensive outreach model from 2012 through the present. Participants will explore how increasing service demand created opportunities to rethink the role of outreach as a mechanism for prevention, early intervention, mental health literacy, consultation, and culture change. The session will highlight the enhancement of liaison relationships, embedded and community-based services, strategic campus partnerships, assessment-informed programming, and large-scale mental health promotion efforts that strengthened trust between the counseling center and the university community.

Special attention will be given to the influence of professional collaboration through the Association for University and College Counseling Center Outreach (AUCCCO), emerging best practices in the outreach literature, and the shift toward viewing outreach as a direct service and public health intervention rather than a marketing activity. Participants will review lessons learned, indicators of success, and practical strategies for building campus-wide engagement that supports efficient demand management while enhancing the counseling center's credibility, visibility, and impact.

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this program, participants will be able to:

1. Describe the evolution of counseling center outreach from a promotional activity to a comprehensive prevention and intervention strategy that supports student well-being, mental health literacy, and campus-wide engagement.
2. Analyze how strategic partnerships, liaison relationships, consultation services, and professional networking can enhance counseling center effectiveness, facilitate efficient demand management, and strengthen institutional trust and credibility.
3. Apply key principles of comprehensive outreach planning to develop sustainable campus initiatives that extend therapeutic impact, improve help-seeking behaviors, and support a coordinated ecosystem of student mental health care. 

References:

Glass, G. D. (2020). College counseling center outreach: An organizing framework. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 34(4), 271-286. https://doi.org/10.1080/87568225.2019.1596773

Golightly, T., Thorne, K., Iglesias, A., Huebner, E., Michaelson-Chmelir, T., Yang, J., & Greco, K. (2017). Outreach as intervention: The evolution of outreach and preventive programming on college campuses. Psychological Services, 14(4), 451-460. https://doi.org/10.1037/ser0000198

Asidao, C. S., & Sevig, T. (2014). Reaching in to reach out: One counseling center's journey in developing a new outreach approach. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 28(2), 132-143. https://doi.org/10.1080/87568225.2014.883881

Glass, G. D., Walden, D., Bruns, C. M., & Braun, L. (2026). Essential: The roles and impacts of the university and college counseling center. Journal of College Student Mental Health, 40(3), 553-571. https://doi.org/10.1080/28367138.2025.2583873

Brunner, J., Wallace, D., Keyes, L. N., & Polychronis, P. D. (2017). The comprehensive counseling center model. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 31(4), 297-305. https://doi.org/10.1080/87568225.2017.1366167