Your contact with HELPS is confidential as provided within the parameters of professional ethics, the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine contract, and applicable federal and state statute.

The services of HELPS are available to you and any dependent eligible for insurance benefits and your significant other whether or not they are currently covered under your health care policy.

The first three (3) visits by you and/or each of your dependents and significant other to HELPS are at no charge to you, your family member or significant other. Additional contacts may be covered by your behavioral health insurance plan. If any testing is recommended, the costs will be the expense of the student, family member or significant other or may be covered by your behavioral health insurance.

There probably will be charges for most of the professional resources to which you, your family member, or significant other may be referred by your HELPS representative.

Through experience, Wood & Associates has found that many people contacting similar programs want assessment and support from a program representative for personal, learning, relationship or other concerns. Behavioral health insurance benefits may provide coverage for concerns requiring treatment. In some cases, your HELPS representative may suggest clinics, as opposed to private practitioners as a further step toward the lowest possible costs. Every case, every problem, every budget is different. There may very well be low cost or no-cost ways to resolve your problem. One thing is certain, however; it won’t cost you anything to find out.

Problems that can be resolved by counseling or therapy:

• Academic concerns
• Learning disabilities
• Vocational/aptitude testing
• Career decisions
• Interpersonal difficulties
• Relationship problems
• Troubled children/adolescents
• Distress, anxiety, depression, other emotional concerns
• Alcohol or drug misuse or abuse of a personal or family nature. When students present with a substance abuse problem, the student will be provided with appropriate referrals.
• Problems that are typically resolved by the courts:
• Divorce, child support
• Property/lease suits
• Court orders
• Imprisonment
• Money or credit problems
• Other problem areas of concern:
• Care for aged/infirm
• Local social services
• Battered spouse
• Immigration
• Sex counseling
• Individual or family crisis situations such as rape, assault, robbery, suicide or other life-threatening trauma.

Most of the above problems can be even more complicated because they tend to have a ripple effect, i.e., very often one’s health/concentration is affected. This, in turn, can affect one’s studies, work and relationships. While HELPS is neither a legal nor a loan agency, it can assist you in finding appropriate help in those areas. Even if you are not the one who directly has the problem, you may need help. Very often, an individual feels responsible (or actually is responsible) for another. If your relative or significant other seems to have a drinking problem, or a family member is experiencing difficulty, you may still experience distress.

HELPS is a voluntary, confidential program to assist in finding help with a variety of problems. There are no charges for you, your eligible dependents and significant other for the first three HELPS contacts. Additional contacts may be covered by your behavioral health insurance plan. Any testing that may be recommended is at the expense of the student, family member or significant other unless also covered by behavioral health insurance. The student, family member or significant other is responsible for any charges by professional resources to which he/she may be referred. Your HELPS representative will help you determine the best and most cost-effective means of dealing with your problem.

All information is kept confidential within the parameters of professional ethics, the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine contract, and applicable federal and state statute. Finally, the only thing you have to lose is the problem.