1) St. Olaf college will provide documentation for academic, housing, or dining accommodations for mental health related disabilities through the Disability and Access Center (DAC) or through an off-campus entity if/when clinically indicated and after the student has signed a release of information.
2) Documentation for accommodations is provided in the context of an on-going, working relationship with a counselor. Students requesting documentation must be actively engaged in counseling and working toward goals outlined with their counselor, which includes practicing skills discussed in session outside of session. The amount of sessions it takes to gather all relevant information to provide adequate documentation is at the discretion of the counselor. We do not provide documentation for disability accommodations in the first session.
3) Counselors asked to provide documentation will ask the student requesting documentation to complete at least two questionnaires that measure symptoms severity, frequency, intensity, duration, and functional impact. The counselor may add additional questionnaires as needed to clarify diagnosis and the impact of mental health concerns on functioning.
4) Documentation from the Counseling Center for accommodations does not guarantee accommodations will be granted.
5) For on-campus or off-campus housing accommodation requests, the Counseling Center will not provide documentation for requests that are outlined on the DAC website as reasons that do not meet the level of reasonable accommodations. Please refer to the DAC website for further details: https://wp.stolaf.edu/academic-success/general-guidelines-on-disability-accommodations-for-campus-housing/
6) Students with existing documentation for accommodations from our Counseling Center or an outside provider from previous academic years are not guaranteed documentation for the upcoming academic year as symptoms and their impact on functioning can change year to year. Providing new documentation to a student with former documentation from our Counseling Center or an outside provider is at the discretion of the counselor and depends on the outcome of the process outlined in # 1-3 above.
7) If a former student requests accommodation documentation, we will only be able to provide it if the student was a former client in the counseling center during the student’s time at St. Olaf. For these students, historical records (intake and progress notes, data from symptom measures and questionnaires) will be used to provide information, and any documentation will be completed by the Counseling Center Director. Counselors are not able to provide assessments to former students. As such, counselors cannot provide documentation for current symptoms and their impact on functioning, nor can they make recommendations for current needs for accommodations. A release will need to be signed for the Counseling Center to provide this information to the off-campus entity.