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About the Bureau

• What is the Bureau?
• Eligibility
• Appointment Guidelines
• Confidentiality
• The Bureau and the Mental Health Services
• Directions
• Hours

What Is The Bureau?

The Bureau of Study Counsel is a resource center for students' academic and personal development.  The Bureau encourages the development of the "whole person" in the interrelated realms of intellectual, emotional, and interpersonal life. Students consult the Bureau with a wide variety of academic and personal concerns, and the Bureau staff welcomes any topic for discussion. Services include:

• academic and personal counseling

• groups and workshops

• Harvard Course in Reading and Study Strategies

• peer tutoring (course-based or English as a Second Language)

• supervision of peer counseling and peer education groups

• consultation and outreach

• referral to other services or providers, either within or outside the Harvard community

The undergraduate and graduate student years are times of intense growth and development -- intellectually, emotionally, and interpersonally. During these years, students will form an adult identity, develop their capacities for critical and creative thinking, and explore such aspects of their lives as  relationships, sexuality, health choices, and career direction.  While being a student can be stimulating, it can also be stressful.  Students may encounter academic, emotional, and relationship difficulties that test the limits of their current coping strategies.  The Bureau can help students claim their existing strengths and develop new ones in their efforts to live a life that feels true to the whole of who they are.

At the Bureau, students can expect to find responsive people -- counselors, mentors, advisors, facilitators, and other students -- who can help them feel less alone with their experience and better able to face the academic and personal challenges of being a Harvard student.  The Bureau is here to help students enhance their engagement in their learning, improve their scholastic performance, trust their emotions, enjoy their relationships, and deepen their connection to their sense of self and to what really matters to them in life.

In addition to direct services to students, Bureau counselors support the educational mission of the University by serving on committees and working groups, participating in residential and departmental activities, and providing consultation and training to faculty, administrators, and other members of the Harvard community.  

Eligibility

Bureau services are available to the following students:

• Harvard College undergraduates

• Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) students

• Graduate School of Education (GSE) students

• Harvard Kennedy School students

The Bureau also offers limited academic services (academic counseling and peer tutoring) to undergraduate degree candidates in the Division of Continuing Education Extension School by referral (see the Director of Degree Programs) and study skills workshops for Extension School students.

Appointment Guidelines

• Bureau counselors meet with students by pre-arranged appointment. To schedule an appointment, students may visit the Bureau at 5 Linden Street or call 617-495-2581.
  

• Individual appointments are usually available within a few days.  If you request a particular counselor or have particular time constraints, it may take longer.
  

• You may reserve one appointment with one Bureau counselor at a time. 
  

• As a matter of courtesy, if you scheduled an appointment with a counselor and wish to cancel or reschedule it, please notify the Bureau in advance, by phone. Although we ask that you provide us with as much advance notice as possible, we understand that unforeseen circumstances do arise, and we would rather have short notice of a cancellation than no notice at all.
  

• If you need services that are not available at the Bureau (for example, medication, specialty care, counseling or therapy beyond the scope of Bureau resources, etc.) a Bureau counselor can help you connect with appropriate Harvard and community resources.
  

• If you have a mental health concern that requires immediate intervention or attention, visit or call the Mental Health Service (MHS) at University Health Services (UHS), 75 Mount Auburn Street, 4th floor, in Holyoke Center (617-495-2042). In the event of an after-hours emergency, contact the UHS After-Hours Urgent Care Clinic (617-495-5711) or the Harvard Police (617-495-1212).

Confidentiality

Students regularly speak with Bureau counselors about highly private and personal matters.  The Bureau is committed to affording students the maximum protection available by law to maintain their confidentiality, serve their best educational/developmental interests, and protect their safety and the safety of the community.   Bureau counselors use their discretion and professional judgment to apply the strictest confidentiality protections applicable to each circumstance. 

In general, the Bureau does not reveal any information about conversations with students, or even whether the student has sought Bureau services, without the student's express oral or written consent.  At the same time, students often find it helpful to allow the various people or services they are working with to communicate with one another, and the Bureau makes it easy for students to authorize and facilitate such communications.  The Bureau maintains collaborative relationships with numerous University student support offices (e.g. Accessible Education Office, Office of Alcohol and Other Drug Services, UHS Mental Health Services, Office for Sexual Assault Prevention and Response), as well as faculty and residential staff (e.g., deans, proctors, and tutors).

More specifically, the privacy of records kept by the Bureau about students’ use of academic services (such as tutoring, the Reading Course, groups and workshops, etc.) is protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a federal law which protects all student education records.  Information related to a student’s use of counseling is also held to higher confidentiality standards under Massachusetts law that are applied to sensitive health or mental health information.  This means that a Bureau counselor will generally not convey information related to a student’s counseling to any party outside HUHS (including the student’s deans, professors, or parents) without first consulting with and obtaining permission from the student.  Counseling information may be shared without a student’s permission only in very rare circumstances, such as: a student presents a serious physical danger to himself/herself or to someone else; a student reports current abuse of a minor, elderly, or disabled person; a court of law issues an order requiring that confidential information be revealed (this has not occurred since the Bureau was founded in 1946); or Massachusetts state law or Federal law otherwise requires the Bureau to release information.  Again, these are very rare circumstances, and even when they occur every effort is made to work with the student to maintain the maximum possible confidentiality.

For more information regarding the confidentiality of health and mental health records, see the HUHS Notice of Privacy Practices, http://huhs.harvard.edu.  For more information regarding the confidentiality of educational records, see the Handbook for Students section on Education Records.  Students with confidentiality concerns or questions are invited to consult with a Bureau counselor, 617-495-2581, or the HUHS Patient Advocate, 617-495-7583.

The Bureau and the Mental Health Services

The Bureau and the Mental Health Service (MHS) are both part of the Department of Behavioral Health and Academic Counseling of the Harvard  University Health Services. The Bureau and MHS play related but distinctly different roles in the Harvard community. While MHS is a mental health clinic, the Bureau of Study Counsel takes a special interest in students' learning and education, as well as their personal and emotional development. The two services have different locations, staffs, and missions.  Several distinctions worthy of note:  

• Eligibility:  The Bureau serves College undergraduates and students from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School of Education, and the Harvard Kennedy School. Degree candidates in the Harvard Extension School are eligible for the Bureau's academic services, by referral from the director of the Extension School's degree programs. MHS serves all students, as well as faculty and staff enrolled in the Harvard University Group Health Plan (HUGHP).
  

• Hours of Operation:  The Bureau is open during weekday business hours. MHS is open during weekday business hours and also responds to after-hours emergencies.
  

• Specialized Services: Although some services are offered by both the Bureau and MHS, the following are particular to each office:

   

  • Academic Services:  Students seeking tutoring, study skills materials, study counseling, and other academic support should contact the Bureau.  Bureau counselors serve as non-resident freshman academic advisers and are generally familiar with the requirements of the Harvard College curriculum.
    

  • Medication, Medical Excuses, and Emergencies:  Students needing prescription medication, seeking medical excuses for exams or extensions, or facing a mental health emergency should contact MHS.

Directions

The Bureau is located at 5 Linden Street in Cambridge.  If you are inside Harvard Yard, face the front steps of Widener Library and proceed along the right side of Widener.  Exit Harvard Yard through the Wigglesworth archway and cross Massachusetts Avenue. You will then be on Linden Street. We are the gray house on the right side of the road just behind the commercial brick buildings that border Massachusetts Avenue. The Bureau is accessible by wheelchair.  View Directions.

Hours

Fall and Spring Semester Hours:  M-F 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Summer Hours:  M-F 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.