College can be stressful. Sometimes it can be devastating, as shown by the recent tragic event at Virginia Tech.

To help ease what can often be a hectic, tense and even traumatic experience, UW offers various support networks for students. Students seeking help with emotional, psychological or academic problems have a variety of services available to them here on campus.

The Counseling Center in Schmitz Hall offers individual and couples counseling, group workshops and classes on improving study habits and dealing with stress and anxiety.

"We see a very broad range of students from those that are struggling with adjusting to campus, to students suffering from serious chronic mental illness," said Maurice Warner, associate director of the student-counseling center.

Counseling is also available at Hall Health, which provides individual counseling and group workshops on issues like eating disorders and social anxiety. They also have a suicide prevention program. In addition to these services, Hall Health is staffed by nurse practitioners and psychiatrists who are able to prescribe medication, if necessary.

Jane Mortell, associate director of Hall Health's Mental Health Clinic, said these programs are valuable to a college campus.

"[These services] give someone the option when they feel stress, whether it's major or they just need to talk to somebody, to reach out to someone outside of their family or peer group," she said.

Warner said it is especially important that these support systems be available to college students.

"College is a stressful time, and students tend to be at an age when their coping skills are not as great. Young, college-age people are just beginning to develop their skills in dealing with the world," Warner said. "People who are just emerging into adulthood may not cope with problems as well as, say, someone who is 40 or 50. For young people, sometimes drastic action seems like a good idea."

Mortell said access to services like these could prevent more drastic and possibly tragic outcomes.

"Occasionally, we will get someone who is referred by concerned faculty," she said. "That person may come in for the four sessions and see that they really need help and choose to keep seeing a counselor."

Warner explained that the most common problems counselors help students with are not drastic, but rather the sort of anxiety experienced by all.

"The two major issues are, 'What am I going to do with my life,' and 'Can I form lasting relationships with people,'" she said. "So, we offer career planning for students who are trying to get a handle on where they're headed. We also see a lot of couples, as well as students who are struggling with a recent breakup."

The Counseling Center at Schmitz also advises faculty and staff. Oftentimes, RAs or professors will come to counselors with concerns about particular students who may need help.

"There is a lot of consultation that goes on at a campus," Warner said. "It's very hard [for faculty] to assess the level of severity of someone's distress."

Warner also said this kind of communication between faculty and professional mental health experts is a good step toward avoiding tragedies like the Virginia Tech massacre, but there's no sure-fire prevention plan.

"There is no magical way to tell which students are suffering and distressed and which are going react in a violent form," he said. "I think every college in the nation is aware that it could have been them."

In regards to how the recent violent events at both Virginia Tech and here at UW have affected students, Warner said the response has not been overwhelming, but students have come in to talk about the events.

"There is a common pattern of experience that inevitably happens after a trauma like this," Warner said. "There is an initial shock and anxiety. Most people are able to cope, but for some people, especially those directly involved, their reactions are more severe, and they are more affected."

Warner also said he thinks it's important for students who feel they need someone to talk with to know they have that option.

"We try very hard to make ourselves visible," he said. "We want students to know that we're here."

These services were made more readily available two years ago, when an allocation of funding allowed the Counseling Center to drastically cut the cost of their sessions.

"There's been a huge response," Warner said. "Obviously, money was certainly a barrier. The number of students using our services has gone up 90 percent, in these two years."

Reach reporter Siv Prince at news@thedaily.washington.edu.