“We are here to help.” In light of Suicide Prevention Month, centering student mental health compounding deadlines, expectations, and individual mental health needs allows us to take a pulse and determine how to support ourselves and others. Mental health swirls in the back of our minds but when it’s often forced to take front and center, do we have equitable access to professional resources and networks? What kind of support uplifts minority communities on campus to mitigate isolation?
The Stevens Student Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) represent the on-campus routine of mental health care and support ranging from personal concerns to psychological intervention, interpersonal concerns, and crisis intervention services. Located on the 2nd floor of the Student Wellness Center, between the North Building and the 9th Street Gate, the CAPS office operates Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., but a crisis hotline is staffed around the clock with a licensed mental health professional.
There are many impressions of surrounding mental health as a college student in which student voices raise concerns over accessibility, limited number of CAPS visits, fully booked sessions, diverse professionals, and understanding a student’s past mental health history. The student therapy resources are broken down into individual counseling, group therapy, drop-in style workshops, psychiatric services, and the online therapy platform Uwill. Treatment approaches are personalized to a student’s short-term needs and long-term goals through the use of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (BCT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and Mindfulness-Based Therapy to take on a solutions-oriented approach.
As students have the option between an in-person session or teletherapy calls geared towards on and off campus students, the choice falls between short-term individual counseling sessions and unlimited teletherapy calls to fill the gap between maxed in-person sessions and difficulty booking. Students can book a private room for a telehealth visit online on their Healthy Stevens Portal found through myStevens. Additional CAPS events include 1st Year Support Group with CAPS and programs centered on educational awareness on menthol health.
They say choosing a therapist is like choosing a partner, in which background, gender, culture, and ethnicity factor into student comfortability and vulnerability when even considering approaching CAPS. The Stevens CAPS team is staffed with a total of seven licensed psychotherapists and case managers, five women and two men, with individual specialties including social work, substance abuse, and LGBTQ+ and POC advocacy. The CAPS mission statement highlights diversity as the center of treatment and equitable care for the student landscape. CAPS has expanded staffing to increase session availability for students returning from medical leave as well as students with previous mental health accommodations.
As the semester marches on, Stevens CAPS spreads the slogan “Quack together” to uplift respect, communication, and equity through hosting events from “Letters of Hope,” motivational letter writing, “Strive to Thrive,” a community wellness resource fair, and past mixers such as “Speed Friending.” As an offshoot of the CAPS intervention services, the Office of Student Culture and Belonging boosts minority communities on campus, ranging from first-gen students to supporting student cultural organizations and encouraging an inclusive student lifestyle.
