Employee Counseling Services

Services are available to UF Scripps employees and adult family members.

Mission Statement

As part of Employee Counseling Service’s effort to promote the success of our campus community, ECS considers a healthy emotional life to be the foundation for personal, academic, and professional success. Honoring individual differences, values, and the complexities of life, our counselors use compassionate, evidence-based interactions to support emotional balance while encouraging clients to reach their potential. We work to meet the needs of the community through individual, couples, and group counseling as well as education, consultation, referral, and outreach.

Values

  • Quality of care: to provide culturally-appropriate, competent care that is equitable and accessible to everyone.
  • Cultural humility and respect for diversity: respect for individuals, their cultures, languages, lifestyles, identities, ideologies, intellectual capacities, personalities, worldviews, and capabilities and continually examine our own biases, acknowledge that others are experts of their own cultures, and recognize the impact of our behaviors on others.
  • Accountability: to act with integrity, take responsibility for our actions, and live our values.
  • Empathy and compassion: to provide kindness, caring and concern for everyone.
  • Growth: to foster a mindset of believing that we can become better through hard work, clinical knowledge, and experience, and collaborating with internal and external community members.
  • Resilience: to adapt to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands.
  • Support and resources: we provide support and connect community members with needed resources because we understand that these are essential to mental and emotional wellness.

WELLNESS AT The Wertheim UF Scripps Institute

The ECS Cares Blog

Managing stress and practicing self-care are key skills for anyone working in or supporting academic research. Read the ECS Cares Blog for tips on these and more.

Coping with Change

A pdf file showing campus resources for mental health. For Wertheim UF Scripps, call Dana Scoville at 561-228-2288. For Scripps Research, call Claudia Herrera at 561-228-2028.

Support and Resource Guides

Download and save these PDFs with campus mental health resources and advice for supporting colleagues.

Supporting-Campus-Mental-Health-51623

Supporting-Campus-Mental-Health-32024-1


Services Overview

Non-emergency, free counseling services, provided by licensed professionals, are available to employees (full and part-time), postdoctoral researchers, benefits-eligible members of their households, UF interns, and professional contributors. Individual counseling, couple’s counseling, workshops, consultations, and educational and support groups are available. Clients must be at least 18 years old.

Employee Counseling Services uses evidence-based, brief and solution-focused models, which means we usually see clients for 10-12 appointments a year.  However, every client’s need differ so we will determine them on a case-by-case basis. We will assist employees who want or need more intensive or longer-term support to locate the services they need in the community.

Common Concerns

Clients bring a range of concerns to counseling. These include, but are not limited to:

  • Anxiety
  • Acculturation Issues
  • Marital or relationship concerns
  • Imposter syndrome
  • Stress
  • Coping with change or loss
  • Mood-related concerns
  • Social anxiety
  • Interpersonal/communication difficulties
  • Career issues
  • Health-related concerns
  • Parenting concerns
  • Eldercare issues

Confidentiality

Confidentiality is an issue that we at ECS take very seriously. Our office, the ethical principles of counseling professionals, and state and federal law all support the importance of confidential interactions between clients and their counselors. In most cases, we will not release information about your participation in therapy to anyone unless you give us explicit permission to do so, or if emergency circumstances require it. In rare and serious situations, we may be legally and ethically mandated to breach confidentiality. If there is a risk of serious harm to you or someone else, if you inform us about the abuse of a child or an elderly person, or if a court orders information to be provided, then we may need to breach confidentiality.

Urgent Assistance

If your situation is life threatening, go directly to a hospital emergency room or call 911 for assistance.

UF Employee Assistance Program offers someone to talk to and resources to consult whenever and wherever you need them. All UF faculty, staff, non-student OPS employees, and postdoc associates as well as their household members are eligible to receive services.

Call: 833.306.0103
TTY: 800.697.0353

The toll-free number gives you direct, 24/7 access to a licensed counselor, who will answer your questions and, if needed, refer you to a counselor or other resources. You will be asked for your name, employer name, address, phone number and date of birth. Telehealth options are also available.

Online: guidanceresources.com
App: GuidanceNow
Web ID: UFEAP

National Suicide and Prevention Hotline

Call or text: 988

Online: 988lifeline.org

Call 2-1-1.
Free, Confidential, and available 24/7. 211 is a community helpline and crisis hotline that provides suicide prevention, crisis intervention, information, assessment, and referral to community services for people of all ages.

Mobile Crisis Unit

Call: 561-637-2102 (Palm Beach County)

Call: 772-468-3909 (St. Lucie, Indian River, Martin, and Okeechobee counties)

The Mobile Response Teams offer assessment of crisis situations, referral and linkage to community resources, support in difficult/stressful times, information about services and resources in the community, and education about mental illness to those in need. These services are free,and offered 24/7 to people of all ages. All teams are mobile- they can go to you. They can come to your home, go to schools, or wherever the crisis is happening.

Fees

Services at ECS are free to all UF Scripps health insurance-eligible employees, domestic partners or dependent family members. Referral to other Services at ECS are free to all eligible clients. Referral to other programs may be partially covered under your medical or mental health plan. For additional information about your coverage for these external programs, contact your benefits representative.

Helping a Colleague

It can be a challenge to have a colleague who is having emotional problems; and you may be unsure of how to help. You can always encourage your colleague to make an appointment at ECS or with another mental health provider. However, you can’t force a friend who is refusing assistance or support to seek help. You can try to offer friendly support by:

  • Letting your friend/colleague know, in a private setting, that you are worried about him/her
  • Offering to accompany your them to an appointment at ECS
  • Contacting Dana Scoville or Claudia Herrera at the counseling center about your concern to speak confidentially about your friend/colleague and receive support.

However, if you are concerned about an immediate risk to the safety of a friend, please dial 911 or help your friend get to the nearest hospital emergency room.

Contacts

Dana Scoville

Dana Scoville

Employee Counseling Services Program Director, Licensed Mental Health Counselor
Department: SR-HEALTH SERVICES
Phone: (561) 228-2288