Maine Guide for Healthcare and Insurance Resources

The college years can present unique challenges for students and their parents. Below you will find information about:

  • Understanding the transition to college
  • Some ways you might support your young adult
  • Some ways you might support yourself
  • When your child needs help
  • USM Counseling Services as a resource for parents
  • Confidentiality and parents
  • Other helpful resources

Understanding the Transition to College

For your child, college will likely be a period of intellectual stimulation and growth, career exploration and development, increased autonomy, self-exploration and discovery, and social involvement. During this period, your young adult may forge new identities or seek to clarify their values and beliefs. This may require an examination of self, friends, and family. It may also be a time for exploration and experimentation, and a period in which your young adult may question or challenge the values you hold dear.

The changes your young adult may experience can occur quickly, as they begin to develop new peer relationships, gain competence in new areas, and learn to manage independence. It is important to recognize that every young adult will experience his or her own unique challenges and adjustments, just as every parent will have different expectations for and reaction to their young adult’s college experience.

Often overlooked is the fact that the college experience is a significant transition for the parents of college students, too. As parents, you may experience feelings of happiness, excitement, and pride when your young adults leave for college. At the same time, you may feel a sense of sadness and pain and have many understandable fears and concerns about your young adult’s future and well-being. You may worry about your young adult’s safety and ability to care effectively for themselves. You may fear “losing” your young adult as they begin to function more independently and form deep attachments with peers. You may be concerned about how your young adult will deal with alcohol, drugs, and sexual relationships. You may also wonder how your young adult’s performance in college will reflect on you as the parent.

Some ways to support your young adult:

  • Maintain a supportive relationship: Although your young adult want and need to become more autonomous during this period, it is important for them to know you are still available. Maintaining a supportive relationship with them can be critical, particularly during their first year of college. If you and your young adult were not particularly close prior to their leaving home, it is still important for you to convey your support. You may be surprised to find that some space and distance from your young adult can help improve your relationships with them.
  • Allow space for your young adult: It is important to maintain regular contact with your young adult, but also to allow space for your young adult to approach you and set the agenda for some of your conversations. Let your young adult know that you respect and support their right to make independent decisions and that you will serve as an advocate and an advisor when asked. Finally, recognize that it is normal for your young adult to seek your help one day and reject it the next. Such behavior can be confusing and exhausting for parents, so make sure to take care of yourself by talking about your feelings with your own support system.
  • Communicate about finances and academic performance: Be realistic and specific with your young adult about financial issues, including what you will and will not pay for, as well as your expectations for how they will spend money.

It is also important to be realistic about your young adult’s academic performance, recognizing that not every straight-A student in high school will be a straight-A student in college. Help your young adult set reasonable academic goals; and encourage them to seek academic assistance when needed.

  • Leave home problems at home: The fact that your young adult has left home does not necessarily prevent family problems from arising or continuing. Refrain from burdening your young adult with problems from home they have no control over and can do nothing about. Sharing these problems with your young adult may cause them to worry excessively and even feel guilty that they are away from home and unable to help.

Some ways you might support yourself:

  • Recognize that it is normal to have mixed feelings when your young adult leaves home. Feelings of pain and loss often accompany separation from loved ones. It is also normal to feel a sense of relief when your young adult leaves for college, and to look forward to some time alone, or with your significant other, or with your younger children.
  • Do your best to maintain your own sense of well-being. This may involve eating and sleeping well, exercising, and setting new and creative goals for yourself. Perhaps this is a good time to do some of the things you put off while your young adult was growing up—taking on a project or hobby can be an excellent way to channel your energy and feelings.

When your child needs help:

Counseling Services provides confidential services for USM students, including individual and group counseling; emergency psychological services; and psycho-educational outreach programming.

Students seek counseling for a variety of reasons, including: relationship concerns, difficulties with roommates, loneliness, isolation, emotional difficulties including depression and anxiety, eating problems, and identity issues. Normally these problems are relatively temporary and students recover fairly quickly; however, if the intensity or persistence of any of the problems makes it hard for your student to function effectively, or if your student is experiencing suicidal thoughts or feelings, it is advisable to encourage your student to come to the Counseling Center right away.

It usually works best to allow your student to take the initiative in accessing our services—if you are the one who calls and makes an appointment, they may be less likely to follow through.

University Counseling as a Resource for Parents:

Counseling Services provides consultations to parents concerned about their students. Such consultations can focus on a range of issues, including how to assist a student experiencing a difficult situation, how to refer a student to the office, or how to locate appropriate mental health treatment for students. To secure a consultation, call the Counseling Center at 207-780-4050.

Confidentiality and Parents:

Confidentiality is an essential part of any counseling relationship. Counseling Services staff adhere to the ethical standards of their respective professions and to state and federal laws relating to confidentiality. These standards and laws prevent us from speaking with parents about their student’s contact with the office unless we have the student’s written permission. Thus, unless your student gives us written permission, we cannot acknowledge whether your student has been seen here or is making progress in counseling. The only exceptions occur when a student is under 17.5 years of age, when we are concerned that a student is clearly and imminently suicidal, when we learn of ongoing child abuse, or when we are ordered to release confidential information by a court of law.

Many students prefer to keep their counseling completely private, and such privacy is typically vital for successful counseling. If a student is willing to have one of the counselors discuss their participation in counseling with you, one way to arrange this is asking your student to have the counselor call you during a counseling session. The counselor will then have your student complete and sign the necessary form, and may call you using a “speaker telephone,” so that all concerned can participate in the conversation. Note that, in general, counseling is best served if everything parents have to share with their student’s counselor is also shared with their student.

Even if your student doesn’t give their counselor permission to provide information to you, you may choose to contact a counselor to share your concerns. Such contact may make sense, for example, if you are concerned that your student is in serious danger. Note, however, that the counselor will not be able to even acknowledge knowing your student, and that the counselor will want to discuss any information you provide with your student.

Other helpful resources: