1. Start with the Squad

Though counseling often serves as the right choice for many students looking to work through challenging emotional issues and mental-health problems, sometimes the best person to talk to first is a parent or friend. Smaller issues like friendship drama, bickering with a significant other, or learning how to live with a roommate often can be handled via the guidance of a trusted friend or family member. Larry Marks, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist in the Counseling and Psychological Services Department at the University of Central Florida, advises that if you are not sure if you even need therapy, the first step is talking to family and friends if possible. “I don’t necessarily think that college students have to go to counseling as the first stop, but it certainly could be a good resource,” he says.

2. Don’t Forget the Pros

However, Marks notes that “maybe a student might feel more comfortable talking to a medical provider, physician, or some sort of academic advisor or a trusted faculty or staff member.” Finding access for students might be an impediment so he suggests to start at the university or college website where students can learn about counseling services and what is offered. “That can be a good kind of introduction to how to seek out services or how to access the services,” he says.

3. Check Yourself Too

After some self-reflection or discussion with a confidante, Marks suggests students take into account their feelings and consider if the thoughts and emotions interrupt the normal course of the day. “There are normal ups and downs and stressors in life,” he says. To consider that, he suggests asking yourself: “Is this a temporary issue that I’m kind of coping with or is this an issue I’ve been dealing with for a longer period of time?” To assist with that self-check, Wallack suggests comparing your mental-health issues to a sore throat as a way to gauge your need. He offers that students ask themselves: “Has it persisted every day for weeks? Or did it pop up because the weather happens to be very dry?” If your anxiety, depression, or other mental-health issue is present in your daily life, you likely should meet with a counselor about it — just as you would go to the doctor if you experienced a sore throat for weeks and suspected it might be something more than allergies or because of a change in the season.

4. Enlist Campus Resources

Deciding to see a psychiatrist can also be a difficult decision. But it’s important to remember that campus counseling centers can help you make that decision. Wallack says that one of the unique ways counseling centers can serve as an effective first stop for a student considering therapy and/or medication is that they offer a diverse staff that represent different disciplines — counseling psychologists, psychiatrists, licensed clinical social workers, and counselors. The New York Times recently released an article detailing the questions one might ask a prospective therapist. At Syracuse University and many other universities, this range of professionals also includes those who possess specializations that offer targeted help for those struggling with eating disorders and substance abuse. And because counselors on college campuses consult with one and another, if a counselor and their patient make the decision to try medication as a next step, a psychiatrist from the counseling center can meet with the student at no charge. Wallack emphasizes that college counseling centers are often the best option for students because they almost always offer their services free of charge since they are built into the cost of tuition.

5. Be Prepared to Examine Your Life

Dr. Ludmila De Faria, co-chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s College Mental Health Caucus and a clinical psychiatrist at Florida State University’s Health Services, notes that the first step for any college student seeking counseling and mental-health support requires that person to look at the situation holistically. “We really need to have this conversation about the kinds of healthy choices that you make in your heart, in your life and in self-care,” she says. And before suggesting medication to any student, Dr. De Faria requires her patients to meet with a counselor. “At that point, we’ll see if the student actually even needs medication because therapy might resolve the problem,” she adds. Burtman emphasizes that “it’s certainly important to try psychotherapy before trying psychotropic medications because therapy can change how somebody feels as well as their brain function as much as medication.”

6. Honor Your Identities

Once you make the decision to seek treatment, Wallack notes that not all providers are going to be the best fit for every student. “If there are specific elements of a student’s identity that feels really important,” he says, “it is important to be in therapy with someone who they’re comfortable with.” For example, Wallack says, if someone seeking out a therapist identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or trans, it is perfectly reasonable for them to call a therapist before meeting with them and ask “Do you work with people from this identity group? Is this something that you have a background with, that you are comfortable with?”

7. Take Time to Find the One

The decision to begin therapy of any kind is a hard thing for a person struggling with their mental health to do. So it’s important to ensure you find the right person. In addition to choosing a provider who you feel meets your psychological and personal needs, Wallack mentions that getting multiple opinions — whether they be within a college counseling center or from off-campus providers — is perfectly fair and common practice within the mental-health space. Furthermore, Burtman suggests that “it’s important after meeting the person to make sure that you feel safe and comfortable with them. And so it’s important to have at least three sessions to make sure that the person is responsive to your questions and your needs in a way that’s reassuring and safe for you.”

Don’t let the letters that appear at the end a potential therapist’s name confuse you. This guide provides you the necessary information to pick the right person.

Elaborate titles and multiple degrees affixed on a white lab coat or displayed on multiple degrees in a doctor’s office (or, worse yet, on an unending list on your laptop’s screen) can be seriously intimidating and confusing. However, in order to find the right therapy provider, it’s best to look beyond those letters and focus on what you need from your provider and how they provide it. Though there are many different types of therapy providers, the most common are psychologist, psychiatrist, licensed clinical social worker, and counselor.

Cory Wallack, Ph.D., executive director of health and wellness at Syracuse University, says that “the biggest difference in terms of what those degrees or disciplines are is the foundation from which their programs are teaching them.” He explains that most of the psychology programs — clinical psychologist or counseling psychologist — train for more of the individual model, looking at the systems around them in the context around them. “It’s an individual treatment model,” he says. In contrast, licensed clinical social workers, he says, take a different approach. “Social work programs tend to focus more on systems,” he says. “And marriage and family therapy programs are entirely focused on systems.” Wallack also noted that psychiatry programs tend to differ from the other three more common options because it comes with a medical degree as opposed to a doctorate.

But whether it be through your college or university counseling center, a local practice, or from a provider in your hometown, an effective provider exists for each person seeking therapy. “When students go away to college, it’s usually the biggest transition of their life,” says Ruth Burtman, Ph.D., a New York City-based psychologist. “Sometimes, the second students arrive, they are faced with anxiety or depression or feeling overwhelmed in ways that they have never experienced. And sometimes, it gets in the way of them attending classes or feeling like themselves in classes or being able to get their work done or being able to meet people and make friends.” In any of those cases, Burtman notes, it’s a good idea for them to seek help and therapy. Thanks to a range of specialties, disciplines, and techniques, providers are ready to help college students work through what is often a strenuous but enlightening university experience.

Much like shower shoes, expensive textbooks, and band posters, health insurance is a college necessity. Here’s how to educate yourself about your coverage.

Until now, you probably never wondered which insurance provider your parents carried or the RX bin number associated with your prescriptions. Although health insurance serves as the least sexy sign of growing up, in reality, worrying about coverage is a surefire sign you’re not a little kid anymore. But don’t worry: These three steps ensure you’re 100% covered.

Talk to the Authority Figures

Thanks to the Affordable Healthcare Act of 2010, you can stay on your parents’ insurance plan until you turn 26 — regardless of your location, occupation, or relationship status. This option offers many benefits, including allowing your parents to foot the bill and you to remain with your current doctors. However, parental insurance comes with restrictions. If you need to visit an emergency room or doctor’s office out of state, your options may be limited or non-existent.

At most universities in the United States, all full-time students must show proof of insurance, and most of the time your parent’s plan fulfills this requirement and allows you to avoid paying for the university’s insurance. But before you and your parents load up the minivan and head toward campus, place a call to your insurance agent to learn about the specifics of your plan. And if you’re not on a parent’s plan, talk to a university representative and investigate the open enrollment period at the start of the academic year. Insurance offered by an institution often is informed by the financial aid you receive, which means it could cost you very little.

Research Your Area’s Provider Types

Making the decision to attend therapy is oftentimes a difficult one, so avoid adding stress to the objective by knowing in advance if the office accepts your insurance. Researching which offices in your area accept your insurance is as easy as a quick web search. Most providers, such as Blue Cross Blue Shield or United Healthcare, provide databases that allow you to customize your search by your plan, location, and need. Or, go old school and call the office’s main number and ask the receptionist if they accept your insurance.

On campus, enrollment in your university’s student plan allows you access to the counseling center and its resources. However, in some cases, university-provided services may be too broad and unable to assist students with larger issues. This often results in outsourcing to different services off-campus, which can present even larger issues for students such as transportation, cost, and convenience. Cory Wallack, Ph.D., Syracuse University’s executive director of health and wellness, compares it to going to your primary care doctor for an irregular heart rhythm and being referred to a cardiologist. “We’re just trying to match you up to the level of care that you need,” Wallack says.

Educate Yourself about HIPPA

Before your first session, make sure you know your rights. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA), created in 1996, protects you and your personal health information in regards to three categories: administrative, physical, and technical security. In short, this law protects your private information — anything from a hospital stay or a flunked test — from being shared with your parents. Many students choose to share that type of information with their parents or guardians, but for those that don’t, HIPAA allows them to be in therapy and receive treatment without the worry that unsupportive parents or guardians will be notified.

Honesty and vulnerability fuel a successful and effective therapy session. Those require trust between patient and provider and wouldn’t be established without an understanding of confidentiality. After all, one of the liberating feelings about going to therapy is that your conversations are yours alone and will likely never leave the four walls of your therapists’ safe space. Only certain things can make it beyond your therapy session such as if you are threatening to harm yourself or others or you open up about abuse (either sexual, physical, or emotional). The Tarasoff duty to warn mandates therapists report dangerousness to their supervisors and to the state (not necessarily your parents) first.

Beyond the personal details of your conversations, the treatment discussed during therapy is also for you and in support of your health only. And that means you possess the right to consent to psychotropic medication, withhold your medical records from family members, and seek different forms of therapy. If prescribed medication to ease anxiety, depression, or other mental-health conditions, it’s important to know you have the right to this medication, regardless of whether your parents agree or not.

But whether you require medication or not, your college needs to assist in the treatment of your depression or anxiety as well as it would if you broke your foot or suffered from the flu. Dr. Ludmila De Faria, co-chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s College Mental Health Caucus, notes that a parity law passed a decade ago works to ensure students receive mental-health care that matches that for their physical care. She says the goal of that law is that insurance “has to provide the same benefits for mental health and substance abuse that they provide to medical care.” However, Dr. De Faria says not all universities’ coverage provides this. “It’s not unusual for somebody to have coverage to see their primary care, but not coverage to see a psychiatrist.” Nonetheless, don’t be discouraged! Dr. De Faria notes that this uneven coverage has been going through adjustments by many insurance companies.

Whether it’s crushing insecurities, cultivating gratitude and happiness, or bolstering positivity, these books help you build a better life and be your best self.

Start Where You Are: A Journal for Self-Exploration by Meera Lee Patel

This interactive journal enlists reading, writing, and doodling in support of your self-enlightenment journey. Nashville-based artist and writer Meera Lee Patel welcomes you into her world of curly letters, bright colors, and whimsical layouts by inviting the reader to draw and write and reflect in this collaborative journal. Amazon reviewers loved this journal’s message of mindfulness and its ability to speak to all ages.

Read this if: the act of creating grounds you. $11.20 at amazon.com.

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff . . . and It’s All Small Stuff: Simple Ways to Keep the Little Things from Taking Over Your Life by Richard Carlson

Around for more than two decades and written by a renowned happiness expert, this book (as well as the 20 other titles in the series) instructs readers to approach life’s issues one at a time. Amazon reviewers urge fellow readers to “keep it with you (at all times if possible!)” and call it a life-changer. And if those endorsements fail to convince you, know that statistically speaking, one of the 100 lessons in this book is bound to be helpful.

Read this if: goals and routine speak to you. $8.99 at amazon.com.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson

Hidden behind the profanity in this book’s title and its rebel attitude reside a uniquely inspiring way to live a great life. On Goodreads, an online book review and catalog, one reviewer confesses, “I don’t usually go for self help books cause to me they are all the same! Smile more, love more, hate less, don’t give up, it’s gonna be okay, it’s all in your head. Blah blah blah.... but this one was the exception.

Read this if: you want to cut the BS and live your best life. $15.82 amazon.com.

The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin

This #1 New York Times best-seller is author Gretchen Rubin’s account of her year-long quest to live a happy life. Science, philosophy, and real-world moments meld to help you do the same. Rubin has said a search for an appreciation of all that has inspired her to pick up her pen. And appreciation is exactly what so many of Rubin’s readers have found for their lives since the book’s 2009 publication.

Read this if: you’re ready to take on a big project, follow through, and amplify your happiness. $9.59 at amazon.com.

You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero

Written by a self-help guru and success coach, this book targets the insecurities that exist in all aspects of life and deconstructs them with the goal of eliminating them for readers. One Amazon reviewer wrote that this book is “sure to get you on the path to positivity.” Though this tome doesn’t delve as deep into anxiety or depression as others on this list, it serves as a great option for those who struggle with self-doubt, lack of motivation, and loss of creativity.

Read this if: you feel like you’re stuck in a creative or emotional rut. $8.99 at amazon.com.