By this point in the semester, you have likely heard of the Counseling & Psychological Services (otherwise known as CAPS) offered here at Penn State. However, you may be underestimating the effectiveness of their services, since orientations tend to skim over what CAPS really provides. Below will provide some further information about the resources you may not yet know about.

Counseling Options

The best way to get started with the more serious end of CAPS is by scheduling a phone appointment with a counselor. This usually only lasts around 15 minutes, and will allow you to discuss your options for the next step. Typically, these appointments lead to a in-person encounter where you can make plans for further services, such as individual or group counseling. However, you may be referred to other campus resources, urgent appointments, or off-campus companies.

While the services offered at CAPS are beneficial to most students, the staff are committed to ensuring that each student receives the proper care he or she needs, and may direct students to off campus facilities if they believe they will need counseling over a long period of time. Although individual sessions are able to focus on a wide range of issues, such as couples counseling and eating disorders, they are solely intended as times to create a plan to help the student get better and to follow on their own. These services act as a guide towards better living, and while they will have check-ins to ensure that you are adhering to your plan, they are not meant to be used as long term therapeutic help. Although CAPS doesn’t provide long term therapy, they do have a Community Provider Database, which provides information on trusted services located near all Penn State Campuses.

Another option you have is CAPS Chat, which is more informal and requires no appointment. Some choose this over scheduling a phone appointment, because it can lead to further services as discussed above. These chats are offered in each of the living commons, LGBTQA center, in the Hub, as well as other locations. However, this service is only open two to four hours a week at each center, and is done on a first-come, first-served basis. This session will last approximately half an hour and may offer an opportunity for you to have any of your mental health questions asked. Many students also tend to use this time to get advice on stressful decisions or conflicts as well.

 

Informal Services

It’s important to realize that while CAPS does specialize in the areas mentioned above, they also provide more relaxed services such as outreach workshops. Their program “Life Hacks with CAPS” offers one hour seminars about two times a week on topics such as mindfulness, anxiety, and perfectionism. The next two sessions will focus on anger management and mindfulness this Tuesday and next Monday, respectively.

CAPS also provides educational outreach services which send faculty members to classes or student organizations. By request, these workshops can focus on topics ranging from stress management to relationship issues. Anyone can submit a request form for this event, however they prefer medium to large groups and will need the request at least two weeks in advance. These seminars are conducted based on faculty availability, so not every request may be fulfilled. To decrease your chances of having this happen to you, it is important that you submit a request as early as you can for an event, especially if it happens to be over midterms or finals.

 

Each service described above has been specifically designed with students’ best interest in mind. It’s important to understand that if one resource doesn’t work for you, others are readily available for you to try.

 

“Self help is the best help”

-Aesop