Booking an appointment
Counselling Services - JCU Australia
JCU Wellbeing and Counselling Service is a free and confidential service provided to students currently enrolled and actively engaged at JCU Australia. The Service is provided by highly qualified Counsellors with backgrounds and experience in Psychology, Social Work, Counselling and Occupational Therapy.
JCU Wellbeing and Counselling Service offers brief-intervention support, up to ten sessions per student. Appointments are available Monday to Friday between 9am to 3pm and can be offered by phone, Zoom (online video call software) or face to face on either the JCU Cairns, Nguma-bada campus, Smithfield or JCU Townsville, Bebegu Yumba campus, Douglas. Please note there are limitations to the support we can offer to students located off-shore.
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You are a new client if:
- you are seeking an appointment and you have not engaged with Counselling and Wellbeing Services in the last 6 months, or at all, please click the New Client Bookings button below.
You are an existing client if:
- you have engaged with Counselling & Wellbeing Services within the last 6 months, or
- you are unsure, please contact us directly. For contact details please click the Existing Client Bookings button below.
Opening hours
JCU Wellbeing and Counselling services are open between 9.00 am - 4.00 pm, Monday-Friday (excluding pubic holidays).
If you require support after hours or during our closure period, please contact the JCU Urgent Mental Health Support Line.
Frequently Asked Questions
Counsellors can assist you to build the skills and resilience to manage a variety of issues; Counsellors use short term counselling models, which can assist you with a variety of issues including:
- Low mood
- Stress and anxiety
- Relationships
- Procrastination and motivation concerns
- Grief and loss
- Life crises and traumas
- Study and academic issues
- Mental health
- Neurodivergent conditions
- Gender- and sexuality-related concerns
Counsellors can help you explore alternatives so you can make the best possible decisions for yourself. They can suggest relevant resources and tools that may be of use to you. They are knowledgeable about university processes, such as special consideration, and can refer you internally to other JCU services. There are also some presenting issues that require specialist support; in this case, your Counsellor will refer you to your GP or an external provider to meet your individual support needs.
JCU Wellbeing and Counselling is not a crisis service. If you are in immediate danger or need life-critical help, please call 000 (Police, Fire, or Ambulance).
If you are not in immediate danger but need urgent support, please call our office. We keep a small number of appointments available for students with urgent needs and will do our best to see you as soon as possible. Please note that we operate by appointment and may not always be able to offer same-day support.
For other crisis and after-hours options, visit our After-hours and crisis support page.
If you are new to the service, or if it’s been more than six months since your last appointment, your first contact will be a brief phone intake call (up to 25 minutes). During this call, a Counsellor will discuss your situation, explore how we can best support you, and identify any relevant internal or external referrals or resources.
If ongoing counselling is recommended, you’ll be matched with a Counsellor and can access up to 10 sessions. Each session runs for up to 50 minutes and can be held in person, by Zoom, or by phone.
Your privacy is important to us. Information you share is kept confidential and will not be shared (including with other JCU staff) without your consent, unless required by law or there is a serious risk of harm to yourself or others.
We also cannot receive information about you from others without your consent, except in situations involving safety concerns.
If you are unsure about this or have further questions about confidentiality, please discuss with our Student Information and Support Officer or your Counsellor. The JCU Wellbeing and Counselling Service operates according to the Australian Psychological Society (APS) Code of Ethics.
To find a copy of our Service Management and Confidentiality statement please click here.
All JCU Wellbeing and Counselling appointments are free for eligible students.
JCU Wellbeing and Counselling is available to JCU students who are currently enrolled in at least one subject via our Townsville or Cairns campuses. You don’t have to be physically on campus – telehealth appointments are available to students who are located elsewhere in Australia.
Please note: there are limitations to the support we can offer to students located off-shore.
JCU students enrolled through JCU Brisbane or JCU Singapore are not eligible for this service.
JCU staff seeking counselling support can access free and confidential counselling services through JCU’s Employee Assistance Program .
Sometimes non-JCU Wellbeing staff may encourage students to attend JCU Wellbeing and Counselling to access support. While staff may encourage you to connect with us for support, participation is entirely voluntary. All students must attend of their own free will and give informed consent before engaging with our service.
To help us provide timely support to all students, please keep the following in mind:
- Appointment confirmation: You’ll receive a confirmation email to your JCU inbox once your appointment is booked, along with a reminder two days before your session. If at any point you realise you are no longer able to attend your appointment, please contact the Student Equity and Wellbeing Unit to cancel or reschedule.
- Cancellations: If you can no longer attend, please contact the Service as soon as possible to cancel or reschedule. If you fail to attend an appointment without notice, it's likely that you will have denied another student the opportunity to see a counsellor.
- Notice period: If you cancel less than 24 hours before your appointment, you will be considered to have missed your appointment. Please note that repeated absenteeism from booked appointments may impact on our capacity to reschedule further appointments.
- Late arrivals: If you arrive more than 10 minutes late, your appointment may be given to another student. For phone or Zoom sessions, your Counsellor will attempt to contact you twice. If you expect to be late, please call us to discuss options.