CAPS FAQs

All currently enrolled University of Arizona students can be seen at CAPS.

Mental health support for Arizona Online and Distance Education students:

Find out about health care and mental health support options for Arizona Online students.

Mental health support for faculty & staff:

Faculty and staff can receive mental health services through Life & Work Connections.

Getting Started with Counseling

Most of our counseling slots are available for students to book online through PatientLink or by phone on an as-needed basis. If the best plan is longer-term, we'll collaborate with you in planning your next steps. 

Getting Started with Additional Services

Some CAPS services require a counseling first. Your counselor will gather important information about your symptoms and mental health history that will help them make recommendations and any needed referrals for your care. If you're seeking information about services or resources, you can also schedule a free Resource & Referral visit with one of our care coordinators.

How Minors Can Access Services

Review our instructions for accessing services for students who are under 18.

CAPS counseling sessions serve a few purposes:

As-Needed Counseling

In your appointment, you and your counselor will focus specifically on your goals and create an action plan together.

Getting Started with Additional Services

During your visit, your counselor will talk with you about your goals and needs, gather important information, and make recommendations and referrals for follow-up care, including medication, groups, workshops, and specialty services.

If you're seeking information about services or resources, you can also schedule a free Resource & Referral visit with one of our care coordinators.

CAPS counselors take a collaborative and individualized approach to your care. In each session, you'll talk, learn, and collaborate in creating an actionable plan tailored to your specific goals. 

Depending on what comes up in a session, your counselor can help you: 

• learn coping skills and tools​
• talk through a stressful situation and make an action plan​
• understand recent thoughts, feelings, and behaviors​

Your counselor will also gather important information about your symptoms and mental health history that will help them make recommendations and any needed referrals for your care.

CAPS therapists are all licensed and participate in continuing education on a variety of topics like ethics, cultural diversity, and new treatment methods. Each counselor has their own specialty areas to meet a variety of student needs. 

Immediate support is available for students in crisis. A mental health crisis can be hard to define, but a good rule of thumb is to consider any situation in which a person's behavior or state of mind puts them at risk of hurting themselves or others or prevents them from being able to care for themselves or function effectively a potential mental health crisis. 

You don't need to figure it out alone. Whether you're a student seeking support or are concerned about a student, we can help you figure out your next steps.

• Students can access crisis support services by calling CAPS 24/7 or dropping in CAPS Main or CAPS North during business hours.
• Student supporters can call CAPS for a consultation or escort a student to CAPS during business hours.

There are many options available through the CAPS Care Pathways Plan to meet a wide variety of student needs and concerns. Sometimes, the best plan for a student involves other University resources or off-campus services. This can happen for a number of reasons, like insurance needs, the kind of services a student is looking for, or what would be the best match for a student's concerns. When that's the case, our care coordinators will discuss your options and help identify people to call to get started. 

If you have questions about campus or community resources, you can also schedule a free Resource & Referral appointment with a care coordinator through PatientLink or by calling CAPS at 520-621-3334.

Counseling

You can make as many Counseling & Consultation appointments as you like. These sessions can only be scheduled one at a time.

Counseling & Consultation sessions are just one type of mental health support offered at CAPS. Students can get mental health support through any of our Care Pathways menu of services. You can talk with your counselor at any time about what plan works best for you. 

Medication Management

CAPS psychiatry providers work with students on a short-term basis (about 6-12 weeks). We also have mental health partnerships for continuing psychiatric care in the community if longer-term or more intensive treatment is needed.

Groups and Workshops

CAPS offers a variety of groups and workshops that meet for the full semester, for a brief time, or can be attended on an as-needed basis. There's no limit to how many groups or workshops you can attend as a student, and groups and workshops can be used in combination with other services and resources at CAPS.

If you're more than 15 minutes late for your scheduled counseling appointment, you may need to be rescheduled to the next available appointment time.

To cancel or reschedule a CAPS appointment, call before 4 pm the day before your appointment or there will be a late cancellation charge billed to your account.

Access your Campus Health account and appointment information through Patient Link.

Students have named waiting for appointments as one of the biggest barriers to getting help. We believe waiting shouldn't come between you and your mental health. That's why we're committed to offering flexible scheduling and support options that fit your life.

We don't just believe our model works. We know it does. We use ongoing evaluation and student feedback to guide our decisions, and the data shows that students feel better after using CAPS services. Here are just a few things we've learned from student feedback.

The ultimate goal of a counseling session is to create a Care Plan tailored specifically to you. Your counselor will gather important information about your symptoms and mental health history that will help them make recommendations and referrals for your care. Whether your next step is medication management at CAPS, off-campus, or another service, your counselor will help you get connected.

A student may be evaluated for psychotropic medications at CAPS. You'll need to meet briefly with a CAPS counselor to initiate psychiatry services. If the counselor deems it reasonable, students will be given an appointment to be evaluated by a member of the psychiatry team. The psychiatric team member will determine if medications may be beneficial in the student's treatment and prescribe these medications, if indicated. 

Find out more about psychiatry services.

After you have seen a member of the psychiatric team for a medical evaluation and been prescribed psychotropic medication, you will be asked to come in at certain intervals for brief "medication checks" and/or prescription renewals. These "med-check" appointments are generally made by calling the CAPS medical assistant at (520) 621-2379. 

Because there is an extremely high demand for these appointments, and it could take some time to get an appointment at a time that works for you, we suggest that you call (520) 621-2379 at least two weeks before you run out of medication for best appointment availability. We take calls during regular Campus Health hours and will do our best to find a time that fits your schedule.

Campus Health is sensitive to the needs of some patients who simply cannot afford certain critical medications. Some pharmaceutical companies offer Patient Assistance Programs that can enable you to obtain certain name-brand medications at little or no cost, if you do not currently have a prescription benefit included as a part of your health insurance and if you meet the other requirements. Note that not everyone will qualify for these programs, even if you believe you have a legitimate financial need.

Each of the pharmaceutical manufacturers that offer Patient Assistance Programs may have very different criteria for participation. Certain clinical parameters, as well as financial parameters will apply in determining eligibility.

If you think you may be eligible for one of these prescription medication Patient Assistance Programs, talk with your Campus Health provider. If they think you are a candidate, they will give you the information, including directions on what to do to apply.

Only Campus Health medical providers and CAPS providers have access to treatment information. Unless the student is younger than 18, no information, including the fact that a student has been seen in CAPS, can be released to others, including parents, unless the student provides signed consent.

Things to be aware of:

• Medical records can be viewed in our secure patient system (PatientLink), which requires your NetID and password to access. Anyone who you have given login information to could potentially see those records.
• No notations about visits to CAPS are made in the student's academic record. In the case of administrative or disciplinary referrals, the student will be asked to sign consent for the referring administrator to be contacted.
• As with all Arizona counseling, confidentiality will be broken only if a client is suicidal or homicidal, is committing acts of abuse against a child or a vulnerable adult, or there is a court order requiring that information be disclosed.

All charges at Campus Health, including CAPS visits, show up as "Student Health Charge" on your bursar bill. If you have used your parent/guardian's insurance, they could potentially find out the nature of your appointment through the insurance company's Explanation of Benefits statement.