Student Services
Counseling Services
Mental Health Counseling
Austin Community College counselors support our students’ success efforts. They offer services and programs across the district to foster life balance, develop personal and academic growth, and help maintain a safe and healthy learning environment.
Please note all appointments will be during ACC District Clinical Counseling Services (DCCS) business hours of Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm.
https://www.austincc.edu/students/mental-health-counseling
*NOTE: ACC does not provide Crisis Counseling and does not employ a Crisis Counseling Team. If a student is in need of more urgent or immediate assistance, please contact 512-472-HELP (4357) or 911.
Amplify Center
The Amplify Center at EVC offers mental health counseling services for ACC students. Powered by Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin, the Center provides a screening tool to determine the severity of symptoms and can connect students to services including:
Community resources for minor cases
Amplify core services for moderate mental health systems
Specialty care for serious mental illness
CARES (Campus Assessment Response Evaluation and Support)
The mission of CARES is to promote the health and safety of its students and the college community. The CARES program is dedicated to the prevention, early intervention, and response to students’ concerning, disruptive, and threatening behaviors.
It is important for any faculty, staff, and/or students to immediately report any situation that could possibly result in harm to anyone at Austin Community College. Any member of the campus community may become aware of a troubling person or situation that is causing serious anxiety, stress, or fear.
Develop individualized student intervention, support strategies, and other case coordination
Assess referrals, evaluate existing cases, and recommend actions according to college policies and best practices in behavioral intervention management
Engage in an intervention plan with the student
General Guidelines for Helping Students in Distress
Faculty and staff may be the first to notice that a student is struggling in some way. If they notice signs of distress, they can express their concern directly to the student and gather more information if they feel comfortable doing so. Faculty and staff are not expected to take on the roles of counselors or diagnosticians. Alternatively, they can seek consultation from the District Clinical Counseling Services or a CARES team member via the online referral form at the following link: https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?AustinCC&layout_id=50
INSPIRE
Austin Community College (ACC) is committed to student success and retention. If a student stops attending, misses assignments, or does poorly on tests, faculty can use the Inspire Academic Alert System as an intervention tool. Academic Alert is a feature of Inspire, a comprehensive student support system, that allows ACC faculty to easily and quickly communicate with students needing extra support. Faculty can identify students who are having challenges and connect them with academic guidance specialists to help them resolve issues and access resources to help students persist. It can also be used to commend students who are doing well or showing improvement in class. Alerts will go directly to the student and the assigned guidance specialist.
ACC faculty participated in designing the options, and templates available in the alert system.
Inspire Academic Alert is available through Blackboard.
A select group of ACC faculty piloted Inspire Academic Alert in Spring 2022.
The goal is to quickly identify the types of support a student may need to get on track to successfully complete the course and motivate students to continue to excel.
With Inspire Academic Alert ACC faculty can
build greater rapport with students
create a greater sense of accountability
foster a sense of caring and belonging for the student
communicate student value
increase and enhance individual student performance
receive positive feedback from students
increase student success rates
For questions about Inspire Academic Alert, please contact
David Fonken
fonken@austincc.edu
or visit TLED
https://tled.austincc.edu/about-tled/current-projects-and-initiatives/academic-alert
Advising Services
Area of Study (AOS) Advising: Area of Study academic guidance teams consist of, Advisors, Success Coaches, and Completion Counselors; they help students stay on track for their program of study, select classes, and make decisions about their educational and career goals. ACC students are assigned an area of study guidance team members based on their declared program/AOS.
Online advising is also available through online chat or video at the following link: https://www.austincc.edu/students/advising/areas-of-study-advising/online-advising