A brilliant idea that could have a seriously positive impact.
DCU have launched a new 24 hour counselling service which will aim to provide students with the opportunity to call at any hour and schedule an appointment with a counsellor near them within three days.
The introduction of this programme makes DCU the first Irish university to implement such a thing.
Speaking to DCU’s student-run newspaper The College View, the Students’ Union VP for Welfare and Equality, Aisling Fagan had this to say about the new programme:
“The new service will be of huge benefit for DCU students and will do a huge deal for the waiting times that currently exist.”
“This service will also help our students who go out on placement in particular who may be based in a different county and who can’t access services they might need between the hours of 9-5.”
As of 30 November, 100 of the 170 people that were on the waiting list to see a counsellor have now been given appointments.
The college have hired an organisation called Inspire Students, which in turn, hires offsite counsellors who can tend to the needs of students.
Inspire Students have a counselling network throughout the entire country, in the hopes that there would be a counsellor available for students who could potentially be on placement in different counties.
More information on counselling in DCU can be found here.
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