Welcome to the Counseling Center
To reach us:
781-736-3730 (front desk) or bcc@brandeis.edu (non-urgent email)
About the BCC
The Brandeis Counseling Center (BCC) provides counseling for graduate and undergraduate students. Treatment is available in English, Hebrew, Mandarin and Spanish.
All concerns are addressed with sensitivity to and respect for diversity and individuality. We maintain the strictest standards of privacy and confidentiality and serve as a resource to the entire Brandeis community.
The BCC is located in Mailman House.
BCC mission statement
We are a multicultural counseling center that responsibly and compassionately addresses the diverse psychological needs of our university students.We offer a variety of services on campus and facilitate referrals to outside resources. We are committed to social justice and dismantling systems of oppression, while fostering healing and wellness. We value the participation of all students inclusive of all intersecting identities.
BCC vision statement
We strive to promote positive social change and deep appreciation for the strengths represented cross culturally at Brandeis University. We continue to engage in culturally responsive training to further understand ourselves and our social location. We believe in transformation through dialogue and collaboration with students and campus partners. We will take collective, sustainable action to heal and transform ourselves, our students and our community.
First-time appointments (Assessments)
We typically provide short-term therapy. In your first meeting, you will discuss what brings you in and what next steps might be most helpful. If you are interested in being seen at the BCC, please call the front desk at 781-736-3730 to schedule an assessment.
Individual Therapy
The BCC focuses on stabilization and short-term individual therapy. Individual therapy appointments are generally 30 or 45 minutes. Therapists will help you with symptom reduction, as well as life skills and coping skills.
Urgent Care
The Brandeis Counseling Center (BCC) is aware that situations requiring immediate attention can exist for students. The BCC is able to provide same-day services in response to such events (i.e. serious mental illness, current or recent traumatic experiences, and life-threatening circumstances).
Group Therapy
All BCC therapy groups are 45-minutes long and either in person or on Zoom this semester. Groups are semester-long and open to undergraduate and graduate students unless otherwise noted. We have several groups that we are offering.
Learn more about group therapy.
Community Therapy
BCC Community Therapists provide free, confidential mental health services. Typically they are in various locations around the campus. Each student has up to 3 appointments available each semester.
Learn about community therapy.
Case Management
Students looking for longer term care or specialty care are able to work with our case manager, Vanessa Mena-Gibson, MSW, LICSW. She will facilitate referrals to community therapists, partial hospital programs and specialty care.
Off Campus Referrals
Thriving Campus
The BCC has partnered with a referral platform called Thriving Campus. This gives students the ability to search providers based on their insurance and mental health needs. Students are encouraged to access Thriving Campus for long-term therapy and psychiatric needs.
To access the link, click here.
Attention Students who have Blue Cross Blue Shield!
Blue Cross Blue Shield is the Brandeis student Health Plan. If you are seeking a referral for mental health or physical health care, please check out Well Connection. Well Connection is a virtual resource to help get you connected to professionals throughout the U.S., including medical visits, psychiatry and therapy. All you have to do is go to its webpage or download the app and sign up. You will enter your insurance information, and Well Connection will provide you with a list of clinicians.
The Brandeis Counseling Center stands with countless citizens of the world in opposition to the continued violence against our Black/African brothers, sisters, and family. We condemn the racist killings of BIPOC people, and the historical, institutional and systemic racism and oppression that continues to oppress and traumatize people of African descent. Everyone in this country should have the same basic freedoms without fear of reprisal, or worse, death.
We have seen countless examples of racial injustice and indignity in recent years, yet we know that this sickness has been woven into the fabric of America for generations. We as an educational community must condemn the dehumanizing actions which are a national crisis. We must engage in collective dialogue and take specific action to build unity, trust and respect.
The Counseling Center invites students who have been oppressed, excluded, impacted by racial trauma, and "othered" to work with us. To learn more about who we are, please meet the staff. To check out our groups, please visit our group therapy page.
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.