The mission of Behavioral Health Counseling Services (BHCS) is to provide crisis intervention, brief counseling, outreach, and referral services to Palomar College students. We also offer consultation, education, and prevention strategies to the college community. We seek to encourage an environment of inclusion and personal development.

Mission Statement: Palomar College is an academic community dedicated to the development of the whole person. The mission of BHCS is to come alongside students in their process of becoming healthy adults, offering them a place to receive both nurture and challenge.

Our goal is to help students benefit fully from the college experience by supporting their personal, social, and emotional well-being. Our confidential and culturally sensitive services include counseling, crisis intervention, outreach and prevention. In addition, we provide consultation and referrals to students and faculty/staff.

Competence: The Behavioral Health Counseling Services staff provides high quality, short-term, professional counseling services provided by licensed therapists. Respect: Behavioral Health Counseling Services welcomes all students and treats all students with respect and dignity.

Integrity: The Behavioral Health Counseling Services staff upholds a professional ethic regarding confidentiality. Information shared in the counseling sessions is not available to anyone outside Behavioral Health Counseling Services. Behavioral Health Counseling Services has no relationship to disciplinary action and does not provide mandatory counseling. All behavioral health counseling services are voluntary.

At Palomar College, you are part of a diverse, caring community of students, faculty, and staff that takes its responsibility to look out for one another very seriously. Within Palomar College’s caring community, the struggle of one of us is a concern for all of us. Conversely, the success and growth of each of us enhances our community. As a caring community, we reach out to each other in times of need and work together to build a better place.

If you are a student, your time at Palomar College is intended to be a period of personal transformation and growth unlike any other you will experience during your life. With it come the inevitable challenges of college life, such as the pressures to succeed academically and make sense of a new, and sometimes bewildering, social environment. If you are a member of the faculty or staff, in addition to your professional duties you may be occupied by raising children, caring for elderly parents, personal health issues, financial issues, or other serious matters.

And, despite all the special gifts you possess that brought you to Palomar, like everyone who came to the college before you, you will experience moments of anxiety, doubt, or fear. Within Palomar’s caring community, no one has to answer questions like “Do I belong here,” “How do I succeed,” “Where can I go for help” and “How may I give assistance?” on their own.

Please remember that your mental and emotional well-being is just as important as your physical health. Whether you are having a bad day or not, you should take time periodically to take an emotional inventory. If you need help, Palomar College’s Behavioral Health Counseling Services has a multiplicity of consultation and support services available to meet the emotional, physical, social, and spiritual needs of the college community.

The multicultural staff at BHCS recognizes that many factors —  including age, physical abilities and cognitive talents, socioeconomic status, political viewpoints, religious/spiritual and/or philosophical beliefs, and sexual, gender, racial/ethnic identities, and other unique characteristics —  are salient in students’ lives. It is our commitment to welcome all people with respect and sensitivity.