Individual Counseling
The service offers all Bocconi students and SDA students the opportunity to get professional assistance for the development and achievement of their individual, academic and professional potential.
The psychological counseling supports students in managing the different challenges related to the years of university life.
This service provides a confidential support space to help students better understand and manage challenges they are facing related to academics, adjusting to university life in Milan, or personal and interpersonal dynamics.
What to expect from Counseling
The counseling sessions provide the opportunity to analyze your concerns, reflect upon the causes of your problems, and evaluate the possible related feelings and emotions; furthermore, the sessions aim to help you find different solutions to improve your individual situation, drawing on your personal resources and assisting you in discovering new and more effective strategies.
A professional psychologist could help you gain a better understanding about your personal experience and contextualize it, supporting you in developing objectivity, the ability to switch perspective, and experience to face different kinds of problems. This could be useful to analyze complex issues from a different point of view, helping you feel better able to handle them.
It could be the case you are ready to face a long-standing conflict or concern from the past, or you are dealing with new challenges while living your university experience (e.g., complying with academic expectations, getting used to a different culture, or managing new social relationships): our counseling service could be the right solution for you.
We suggest that you avoid waiting too long, until the problem becomes even bigger but asking for an appointment while the situation still seems manageable, so that it is possible to solve it sooner.
Bocconi’s Counseling Service is meant to be a short-term support service (generally, 1 Session/month — unless individual needs are identified together with the counsellor), focused on finding a solution; consequently, it is not to be considered as individual psychotherapy (see FAQ).
If necessary, the university provides access to other public and/or private services.
Counselors & Psychologists
Bocconi University has been cooperating with a team of professional counselors and psychologists for several years.
They all are experts in helping people from different backgrounds and cultures overcome issues related to a wide variety of academic and personal issues.
How to make your first appointment
Appointments are available throughout the year, except when the university is closed. They can be scheduled Mondays through Fridays between 8am and 4pm. Students can choose how they would like to attend the session:
- In person (Campus Life Offices at Via Bocconi 12 – access next to the Bocconi Residence Hall);
- Remote on Microsoft Teams.
To make your first appointment with a Bocconi counselor, you need to access the dedicated online procedure, where you can check the availability for the next 4 weeks and select an appointment based on the language you would like to use during the session (to make an appointment in French, please select Counseling ITA/ENG option).
Unless the online mode is specified, all appointments are intended as in-person mode. However, sessions can still be requested to be held online by specifying this via email to counseling@unibocconi.it after you have completed the booking procedure.
Once you have completed booking your first appointment, you will receive a confirmation email summarizing the details of your appointment.
Please note: This method can only be used to book your first appointment with a Bocconi counselor. Any subsequent appointments will be agreed upon and scheduled directly during the session with the counselor.
How to change or cancel an appointment
If you need to change your appointment, you must cancel the one that has already been scheduled (at least 24 hours in advance) and book another slot among those available. A second session cannot be booked before canceling the first one.
If you are unable to attend, we ask you to cancel your appointment in a timely manner (at least 24 hours in advance) so that other students can book that slot.
To cancel the appointment, you must log in to the booking system with your Bocconi account and go to "my reservations", select the appointment you intend to cancel and click "cancel".
If you are unable to cancel your appointment at least 24 hours in advance, we ask you to write to counseling@unibocconi.it as soon as possible. We will cancel your appointment for you. This will allow you to book a new first appointment.
In the event you do not notify us of your absence from an uncanceled booked session, you will be able book a new counseling appointment starting three weeks after the missed appointment.
If you would like to better understand what a counseling interview consists of, or you are waiting for a first appointment, you can contact the Walk-In service for an informal individual session (in person or by phone) without the need for an appointment.
We also encourage you to look into the other counseling services available:
- Workshops dedicated to specific topics (study methods, managing anxiety, time management, etc.)
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Group sessions, during which peers can discuss academic or personal problems
FAQ: About Counseling
The Counseling service aims to help you deal even with those problems which could seem insignificant.. If the issue interferes with your daily life and you do not feel comforted enough after talking to your friends and family, a professional counselor or psychologist could be helpful.
The Counseling Service’s objective is to support students facing those issues related to university and/or which could interfere with your experience at Bocconi University and with the realization of your full academic and personal potential. You can discuss problems that either relate to your academic life or are outside of the academic scope.
Your Counseling journey begins with a first session, where you and your counselor work together to elaborate on your personal experiences, reflect on your issues from a different point of view, and work on ways to overcome them. It might be necessary to schedule additional individual sessions after the first one: this could be the case if the issues are especially complex or if it takes longer to deal with them. , Regardless, we aim to guarantee an efficient and personalized service.
The Counseling sessions are strictly confidential; consequently, the information you provide will not be shared with others, unless you give your consent. Exceptions will be applied for legal reporting obligations or dissemination statutory only, or in case of high risk for your personal health or for other people.
Sometimes, it might be necessary to consider an additional psychological support which goes beyond the counseling offered by Bocconi University. If your counselor believes you could benefit from a deeper level of professional support, this will be discussed with you by your counselor and you will be provided references of professional resources after a second-level Counseling session.
The second-level Counseling service aims to help students who have already taken part in first-level Counseling services and who have highlighted particularly difficult and significant situations of difficulty which interfere with their academic life and the realization of their potential. The second-level Counseling objective is to identify the main issue of the students and, specifically, to help them find the appropriate external support resources.
Bocconi University Counseling Service is meant to be a short-term support service focused on finding solutions to students’ issues, while individual therapy is often a more structured and long-term service, characterized by recurrent and frequent sessions.
If you worry about a friend/relative of yours or your partner, you may schedule a single counseling session to share your concerns and understand how you can provide help.
About your appointment
This varies according to requests. We are generally able to give an initial appointment within a maximum of 15 days after the initial request. If you feel you have a particular urgency, you can let us know by email.
There is no preparation needed, you simply need to come to the appointment. The individual session will develop naturally as you begin talking with your counselor.
- If you are unable to attend your first appointment, we ask you to cancel it in a timely manner (at least 24 hours in advance) so that other students can book that slot.
To cancel the appointment, you must log in to the booking system with your Bocconi account and go to "my reservations", select the appointment you intend to cancel and click "cancel".
If you are unable to cancel your appointment at least 24 hours in advance, we ask you to write to counseling@unibocconi.it as soon as possible. We will cancel your appointment for you. This will allow you to book a new first appointment. In the event you do not notify us of your absence from your first uncanceled booked session, you will be able book a new counseling appointment starting three weeks after the missed appointment. - If you need to modify or cancel your non-first appointment, please send us an e-mail at least 24h before to cancel or reschedule it; this way, we will be able to assign your time-slot to another student.
Our counseling service is in high demand. Consequently, it is essential for students to inform us in advance if they will be no longer able to attend their appointment so that someone else can benefit from the counseling service as early as possible.
- For first appointments: In the event you do not notify us of your absence from an uncanceled booked session, you will be able book a new counseling appointment starting three weeks after the missed appointment.
- For non-first appointments: If you did not inform the Counseling office in advance, your name will be put at the end of the waiting list in order for you to be considered for the next appointment available.
The duration of a session can vary based on the personal needs of each student. Regarding the language, you can choose between Italian, English or French. Even if the number of sessions is not set, the Individual Counseling is meant to be a short-term service with a frequency of 1 session/month almost; moreover, it should not be considered as a replacement for individual weekly psychotherapy service.