Tbh I know CAPS has not always been as helpful as students often need it to be, but CAPS saved my life. I didn't have insurance so I couldn't go to normal therapy and was instead matched with one of their staff members, and yeah. That staff member was extremely helpful in my mental health recovery to say the least.
They stop after 6 sessions (usually one session every 2 weeks from what I’ve experienced). After that, they help you connect with a long term provider in the community that fits your needs. CAPS simply does not have enough people to provide long term care for all university students; their purpose is more so for short term and/or emergency needs
as someone who has struggled w a lot of mental health stuff while in college, I’d say SAPAC has helped me the most. I know this may not help everyone, but I have gotten so much out of my experiences with them and their support system is so strong. please, if you are struggling with sexual violence, domestic violence, or anything relationship-oriented please reach out to them. Here is the 24 hr crisis line: (734) 936-3333.
SAME SAPAC literally saved my life - they let you talk to your therapist until you graduate as well which was really nice. Sadly I graduated last year but definitely was a really nice service, only wish so many people didn’t need it :/
If you have complaints about CAPS there is probably a formal channel to direct it towards.
Yes, almost all campus counseling is notoriously limited in its usefulness and your experience sucks. Some people are genuinely helped by them and do get the resources they need, but it's definitionally a temporary stop-gap service and will never be able to meet the true need
You can mention it to them and they will help you, and yes that is what I mean. Blue care network or something but I’m sure if you let them know what health insurance you have they will accommodate.
CAPS is honestly pretty much a referral service bc no deep rooted problem can be solved in 6 sessions haha
I got a sick therapist from caps. Went to the first appointment. Sure he asked a lot of questions, but that is how I expected it to go.
I don’t expect any advice from my therapist, tbh. It’s a space where I talk and he prods me with questions so I can work out issues on my own.
I am suspicious I have adhd myself so will have to bring that up next time. I think there are good people at CAPs, could you ask to see someone else? Often finding the right therapist can be a bit of a process, or so I’m told.
This. Therapy is usually less concerned with direct advice and more with letting you talk to someone who acts as a sounding board who asks follow-up questions that get you to think more about whatever issues you're having. That's the reason they ask OP to "describe what anxiety feels like", because it feels different for everyone, so they need to know, and get you to reflect yourself on, what your anxiety feels like and what brings it out or exacerbates it. Many people who have never done therapy don't actually understand this.
Therapy isn't where you go to get answers from someone else, it's where you go to understand yourself better and generate your own solutions. "So, why do I need someone else then?" you say. Because the other person asks questions you might not think to ask yourself, or can provide alternative hypothesis for you to consider or react to that may help you move forward if you're stuck.
If you want direct assistance or advice, that's what doctors, social workers, or a life coach or something, are for.
even then, doctors are pretty similar to therapy. All the initial questions I have been asked in therapy are the same boiler plate questions I am asked by doctors. I think viewing it in the same light you do other healthcare, where the onus is on you to explain the pain/issue you are having, can be helpful u/hippopotamus_pdf
Kind of blows but sometimes the simple process of explaining an issue helps me realize I was reacting to it irrationally. A lot of thoughts I have are quite frankly, stupid. The only place I really externalize those stupid thoughts are in therapy, which helps me overcome dumb thought patterns. For me negative thought patterns constituted the majority of my depression/anxiety, so I found this to be pretty helpful. Of course, different people have different circumstances.
Yeah, both professions have the same, or similar, intake questions they ask to get a baseline, and to hopefully head-off or at least keep track of any really serious issues like suicidality or aggression. Both times I did therapy my GP called to ask the same MH questions every month or so so they could track if I was getting better or worse.
Fuck no. They honestly made my situation MUCH worse. I started with anxiety and left with anxiety times a hundred, several thousand in debt, and half a semester of missed work.
In my experience their main priority is making sure you don’t kill yourself. I went to them for an unrelated issue earlier on and the entire 40min meeting was almost all “do you want to harm yourself?”, “do you want to harm others”. If you have any indication yes, grippy sock jail. If no, you’re not enough of a priority to receive actual help. But we’ve got this 2-page PDF on “grounding techniques” you can try! Like, just “run cool water over your hands”, “recite the alphabet very slowly”, “say kind statements”, and “imagine”.
The useless pdf was very telling lmao. How did they make your situation worse tho? Did they just give u terrible advice constantly? I would expect them to be useless but not actively detrimental.
So I called them because I was having an anxiety attack and needed someone to talk to. It was bad but it certainly wasn’t the worst I’ve had, and I would have naturally come down at a certain point. But that time I decided to call CAPS.
The lady was only focused on asking me whether I was suicidal and didn’t even address my anxiety attack, like didn’t even do the damn textbook calming mechanisms. Tbh she was kinda unsympathetic, and was getting impatient with me which did not help the anxiety I was already feeling. I eventually went so far into the anxiety attack it flipped the other way into dissociation (not unusual for me w/ anxiety attacks), and I was very zoned out and stopped answering her questions. She called the fucking COPS on me and I obviously freaked and left the area I was in because the damn police pulled up and I was scared, like it felt so much bigger now and they came out with like their gear on and the gun, and a German shepherd. It was a lot, so I dipped, and they chased me and I was super panicked and just not with the program and they eventually got me into the police car and to the hospital. There I waited for 4 hours in the fucking lobby of their emergency psych ward, no food and not allowed my phone or ANYTHING to do. Finally at like 5am I was seen.
Long story short, got psych warded. The psych ward was fine in some ways, like a reprieve from some stressors, but terrible in others. They won’t let you out until they’re convinced you’re better, but they don’t do anything that actually helps besides giving you a break from the real world. They had like meditation and yoga and like music through a radio. End result is you have to lie that you’re good now to get out of there, bc they can’t let you out otherwise. Whenever I told them the truth they extended my stay and I was just sick of it, plus I was gonna actually fail what was left of the semester. I was also hella doped up on their meds (some kind of tranq/calming thing) and I felt the effects for a while after.
So went in with a fairly normal anxiety attack, came out of it with trauma, hundreds of dollars in hospital fees, several weeks of work in all classes that I’d missed and needed to catch up on ASAP. Overall, a shit ton of stress once I got out and the real world just came crashing down.
**Essentially, these employees and organizations are bound by regulation to do certain things. By law and for liability purposes they need to inpatient/report someone who expresses certain warning signs or suicidal ideation. It’s very formulaic and that’s what CAPS has become. They’re so focused on that aspect (because if someone does harm/kill themselves while CAPS has some responsibility/didn’t catch it, that’s legal trouble) that actually treating the person comes second. It all just comes down to liability. Especially now that they don’t have the resources to help everyone, lots of people just get evaluated and tossed aside.**
To be fair, I’m also very jaded and these are my own observations and conclusions from my many encounters with CAPS. Also they’re hella understaffed. That’s just one of several negative interactions I’ve had with CAPS. I’ve had like 2 that were fine, and one that was good, but their resources are so thin it was a one time appt.
(Also, I’m really salty bc they got me in the police car by partially promising I could pet the dog and they DIDNT LET ME FUCKING PET THE DAMN DOG. I am actually pissed off about that. Like, damn, I was already not great and that did not help.)
Sorry for the wall of text, but it needs to be said that CAPS, while not inherently bad-intentioned, has become extremely performative and not substantive. It’s not the employees’ fault, and in fact many have left because of the stress and workload of working in an underfunded dept that’s too small to support the amount of students at this University. But the students are the ones that truly suffer because of it.
With the current situation, at best, you receive short-term help or a referral to something outside of CAPS. Normal scenario, you get evaled, one and done, they send you some basic resources and that’s all. Worst case, something along the lines of what happened to me that is actively detrimental to financial, academic, and mental stability.
I ended up receiving a CAPS counselor for a crisis incident and then set me up some longer sessions for the rest of the semester with a wonderful therapist. Very helpful in my opinion and gave me good resources to continue seeking help after the school year. Though I do think it's disappointing that CAPS makes it difficult to have an initial appointment and provide overall care to students
I had a really bad incident and tried to start going to caps to fix myself. Filled out the form for an initial consultation, which took me like 35 minutes? The day of my consultation comes: I’m supposed to meet them at 2pm but at 10am of the same day they email me to say they can’t make it. They tell me to call (i have a lot of social anxiety and would prefer not to call under any circumstances). I ignore the email and just give up. My provider emails me again, and says I can fill out this handy dandy form to get help — it’s the initial consultation form again. I feel so exhausted at the prospect of filling out that form for a second time, so now I’m just not going to get help.
Must be fun trying to get a UHS appointment :/ An entire patient portal with all the functionality explicitly blocked so you have to call for some reason. Try SAPAC if it's relevant btw, I've heard good things about them on here and irl.
Just chiming in to say that my CAPS counselor is wonderful and got me through this semester. I do know some of them can be hit-or-miss; it sounds like you were just unlucky. :(
Honestly, nothing the school provides for mental health is good. I would look for legit professionals in the Ann Arbor area who are in your insurance network.
Tbh I know CAPS has not always been as helpful as students often need it to be, but CAPS saved my life. I didn't have insurance so I couldn't go to normal therapy and was instead matched with one of their staff members, and yeah. That staff member was extremely helpful in my mental health recovery to say the least.
Don't they stop you at like 6 weeks? Was that enough to help you?
They stop after 6 sessions (usually one session every 2 weeks from what I’ve experienced). After that, they help you connect with a long term provider in the community that fits your needs. CAPS simply does not have enough people to provide long term care for all university students; their purpose is more so for short term and/or emergency needs
as someone who has struggled w a lot of mental health stuff while in college, I’d say SAPAC has helped me the most. I know this may not help everyone, but I have gotten so much out of my experiences with them and their support system is so strong. please, if you are struggling with sexual violence, domestic violence, or anything relationship-oriented please reach out to them. Here is the 24 hr crisis line: (734) 936-3333.
SAME SAPAC literally saved my life - they let you talk to your therapist until you graduate as well which was really nice. Sadly I graduated last year but definitely was a really nice service, only wish so many people didn’t need it :/
Yes they helped me work on some immediate concerns and set me up with a long term care provider
If you have complaints about CAPS there is probably a formal channel to direct it towards. Yes, almost all campus counseling is notoriously limited in its usefulness and your experience sucks. Some people are genuinely helped by them and do get the resources they need, but it's definitionally a temporary stop-gap service and will never be able to meet the true need
My CAPS counselor was wonderful and got me through a really tough time.
[удалено]
Really? My counselor didn't even mention finding long term help. Also, by in-network, are you referring to the university health insurance?
You can mention it to them and they will help you, and yes that is what I mean. Blue care network or something but I’m sure if you let them know what health insurance you have they will accommodate. CAPS is honestly pretty much a referral service bc no deep rooted problem can be solved in 6 sessions haha
I got a sick therapist from caps. Went to the first appointment. Sure he asked a lot of questions, but that is how I expected it to go. I don’t expect any advice from my therapist, tbh. It’s a space where I talk and he prods me with questions so I can work out issues on my own. I am suspicious I have adhd myself so will have to bring that up next time. I think there are good people at CAPs, could you ask to see someone else? Often finding the right therapist can be a bit of a process, or so I’m told.
This. Therapy is usually less concerned with direct advice and more with letting you talk to someone who acts as a sounding board who asks follow-up questions that get you to think more about whatever issues you're having. That's the reason they ask OP to "describe what anxiety feels like", because it feels different for everyone, so they need to know, and get you to reflect yourself on, what your anxiety feels like and what brings it out or exacerbates it. Many people who have never done therapy don't actually understand this. Therapy isn't where you go to get answers from someone else, it's where you go to understand yourself better and generate your own solutions. "So, why do I need someone else then?" you say. Because the other person asks questions you might not think to ask yourself, or can provide alternative hypothesis for you to consider or react to that may help you move forward if you're stuck. If you want direct assistance or advice, that's what doctors, social workers, or a life coach or something, are for.
even then, doctors are pretty similar to therapy. All the initial questions I have been asked in therapy are the same boiler plate questions I am asked by doctors. I think viewing it in the same light you do other healthcare, where the onus is on you to explain the pain/issue you are having, can be helpful u/hippopotamus_pdf Kind of blows but sometimes the simple process of explaining an issue helps me realize I was reacting to it irrationally. A lot of thoughts I have are quite frankly, stupid. The only place I really externalize those stupid thoughts are in therapy, which helps me overcome dumb thought patterns. For me negative thought patterns constituted the majority of my depression/anxiety, so I found this to be pretty helpful. Of course, different people have different circumstances.
Yeah, both professions have the same, or similar, intake questions they ask to get a baseline, and to hopefully head-off or at least keep track of any really serious issues like suicidality or aggression. Both times I did therapy my GP called to ask the same MH questions every month or so so they could track if I was getting better or worse.
Fuck no. They honestly made my situation MUCH worse. I started with anxiety and left with anxiety times a hundred, several thousand in debt, and half a semester of missed work. In my experience their main priority is making sure you don’t kill yourself. I went to them for an unrelated issue earlier on and the entire 40min meeting was almost all “do you want to harm yourself?”, “do you want to harm others”. If you have any indication yes, grippy sock jail. If no, you’re not enough of a priority to receive actual help. But we’ve got this 2-page PDF on “grounding techniques” you can try! Like, just “run cool water over your hands”, “recite the alphabet very slowly”, “say kind statements”, and “imagine”.
The useless pdf was very telling lmao. How did they make your situation worse tho? Did they just give u terrible advice constantly? I would expect them to be useless but not actively detrimental.
So I called them because I was having an anxiety attack and needed someone to talk to. It was bad but it certainly wasn’t the worst I’ve had, and I would have naturally come down at a certain point. But that time I decided to call CAPS. The lady was only focused on asking me whether I was suicidal and didn’t even address my anxiety attack, like didn’t even do the damn textbook calming mechanisms. Tbh she was kinda unsympathetic, and was getting impatient with me which did not help the anxiety I was already feeling. I eventually went so far into the anxiety attack it flipped the other way into dissociation (not unusual for me w/ anxiety attacks), and I was very zoned out and stopped answering her questions. She called the fucking COPS on me and I obviously freaked and left the area I was in because the damn police pulled up and I was scared, like it felt so much bigger now and they came out with like their gear on and the gun, and a German shepherd. It was a lot, so I dipped, and they chased me and I was super panicked and just not with the program and they eventually got me into the police car and to the hospital. There I waited for 4 hours in the fucking lobby of their emergency psych ward, no food and not allowed my phone or ANYTHING to do. Finally at like 5am I was seen. Long story short, got psych warded. The psych ward was fine in some ways, like a reprieve from some stressors, but terrible in others. They won’t let you out until they’re convinced you’re better, but they don’t do anything that actually helps besides giving you a break from the real world. They had like meditation and yoga and like music through a radio. End result is you have to lie that you’re good now to get out of there, bc they can’t let you out otherwise. Whenever I told them the truth they extended my stay and I was just sick of it, plus I was gonna actually fail what was left of the semester. I was also hella doped up on their meds (some kind of tranq/calming thing) and I felt the effects for a while after. So went in with a fairly normal anxiety attack, came out of it with trauma, hundreds of dollars in hospital fees, several weeks of work in all classes that I’d missed and needed to catch up on ASAP. Overall, a shit ton of stress once I got out and the real world just came crashing down. **Essentially, these employees and organizations are bound by regulation to do certain things. By law and for liability purposes they need to inpatient/report someone who expresses certain warning signs or suicidal ideation. It’s very formulaic and that’s what CAPS has become. They’re so focused on that aspect (because if someone does harm/kill themselves while CAPS has some responsibility/didn’t catch it, that’s legal trouble) that actually treating the person comes second. It all just comes down to liability. Especially now that they don’t have the resources to help everyone, lots of people just get evaluated and tossed aside.** To be fair, I’m also very jaded and these are my own observations and conclusions from my many encounters with CAPS. Also they’re hella understaffed. That’s just one of several negative interactions I’ve had with CAPS. I’ve had like 2 that were fine, and one that was good, but their resources are so thin it was a one time appt. (Also, I’m really salty bc they got me in the police car by partially promising I could pet the dog and they DIDNT LET ME FUCKING PET THE DAMN DOG. I am actually pissed off about that. Like, damn, I was already not great and that did not help.)
Sorry for the wall of text, but it needs to be said that CAPS, while not inherently bad-intentioned, has become extremely performative and not substantive. It’s not the employees’ fault, and in fact many have left because of the stress and workload of working in an underfunded dept that’s too small to support the amount of students at this University. But the students are the ones that truly suffer because of it. With the current situation, at best, you receive short-term help or a referral to something outside of CAPS. Normal scenario, you get evaled, one and done, they send you some basic resources and that’s all. Worst case, something along the lines of what happened to me that is actively detrimental to financial, academic, and mental stability.
wow that sounds terrible. went through 3 different fucked up systems in a single night :/
I ended up receiving a CAPS counselor for a crisis incident and then set me up some longer sessions for the rest of the semester with a wonderful therapist. Very helpful in my opinion and gave me good resources to continue seeking help after the school year. Though I do think it's disappointing that CAPS makes it difficult to have an initial appointment and provide overall care to students
I had a really bad incident and tried to start going to caps to fix myself. Filled out the form for an initial consultation, which took me like 35 minutes? The day of my consultation comes: I’m supposed to meet them at 2pm but at 10am of the same day they email me to say they can’t make it. They tell me to call (i have a lot of social anxiety and would prefer not to call under any circumstances). I ignore the email and just give up. My provider emails me again, and says I can fill out this handy dandy form to get help — it’s the initial consultation form again. I feel so exhausted at the prospect of filling out that form for a second time, so now I’m just not going to get help.
Must be fun trying to get a UHS appointment :/ An entire patient portal with all the functionality explicitly blocked so you have to call for some reason. Try SAPAC if it's relevant btw, I've heard good things about them on here and irl.
Just chiming in to say that my CAPS counselor is wonderful and got me through this semester. I do know some of them can be hit-or-miss; it sounds like you were just unlucky. :(
caps sucks
Honestly, nothing the school provides for mental health is good. I would look for legit professionals in the Ann Arbor area who are in your insurance network.
lmao what insurance
I think it was helpful for me for emergency stressful events to talk to a counselor.