What does CAPS offer?
Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) has been an integral member of the UCSD community since the
late 1960's. We are accredited by the International Association of Counseling Services (IACS). Our
integrative and student-centered services are designed to support students towards their academic
success and personal development and well-being while at UC San Diego. To this end we deliver:
- High quality, culturally-sensitive, and confidential counseling services, including individual,
couples, family and group counseling, crisis/urgent care interventions, and referral services
FREE of charge.
- Psychiatric services and consultation.
- Psycho-educational workshops and drop-in forums grounded on the latest science of optimal
well-being and peak performance to support students in their life and leadership skills
acquisition.
- A Wellness Peer Education Program, nationally recognized as a model of best practice for empowering
students to develop leadership and helping skills.
- Campus mental health and prevention programming focused on stigma-discrimination reduction and
community-building.
- Student mentoring and advocacy.
- Outreach and consultation services to faculty, staff and University administrators.
- An APPIC-approved post-doctoral fellowship training program.
Registered undergraduate, graduate and professional school students are welcome for all these services.
During the summer, students who were enrolled the previous Spring quarter and are intending to return
in the Fall quarter are eligible for services.
When to Use CAPS
Students also consult with us about a variety of more specific personal, academic and relationship
problems. No problem or concern is too big or small. Common issues students bring to CAPS are (but not
limited to):
- Depression and suicidal thoughts
- Stress and anxiety
- Poor academic performance and stud skills
- Roommate conflicts
- Homesickness and difficulty adjusting to the university
- Disappointing social relationships
- Alcohol and other substance use and abuse
- Difficulty in love relationships
- Loneliness and isolation
- Eating and body image problems
- Depression and suicidal thoughts
- Cultural identity
- Sexuality and sexual identity
- Family conflict
- Grief and loss
To schedule a counseling appointment, please call (858) 534-3755. For more information about
appointments, please visit our Appointments
page.
Our Vision
To be a positive and active agent of engagement and transformation in the evolving campus community at
UC San Diego; opening pathways and promoting both, the individual and collective mental health and
wellbeing of the student as “whole person” embedded in a social context. CAPS manifest this vision
through the excellence of services and programs that exist to support all students as they matriculate,
learn, graduate, and pursue their educational and personal goals.
Our Mission
CAPS is committed to promoting student mental health and well-being at an individual and organizational
level, as well as the preservation and sustainability of an environment conducive to growth and
lifelong learning. In coordinated efforts with Student Affairs, CAPS strives to:
- Provide the highest quality of care and services, commensurate with available University resources,
to enrolled undergraduate, graduate and professional school students at UC San Diego;
- Support students in their efforts toward their academic success and personal development, as they
cultivate interpersonal relationships, leadership skills, and the unfolding of their potential in
their quest for meaningful and balanced lives;
- Advocate for student’s welfare from CAPS commitment to diversity, multiculturalism, social justice,
and respect for the dignity of each individual;
- Work to identify national and local trends affecting campus life to provide relevant consultation
services and strategic, innovative outreach programs in alignment with current needs; and
- Training the next generation of mental health professionals and engaging in research to deliver
interventions based on empirical evidence and best practices.
The CAPS mission springs from a communal attempt to address the individual needs of students, and
support and enhance the whole student within the best possible learning milieu so that development
occurs at both the intellectual and human levels.
Core Values
- Integrity
- Respect
- Compassion
- Balance
- Diversity
- Accountability
- Social Justice
We maintain integrity and respect in our work. We cultivate compassion to better human welfare. We value
balance in our lives and in the lives of those we help. We embrace diversity and appreciate individual
differences. We are committed to a standard of excellence in our therapeutic, professional, ethical,
communal, social justice and environmental responsibilities
CAPS Functions
- Promote well-being and flourishing.
We function to promote the physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual well-being of our
students, the UCSD community, and ourselves. We facilitate the optimization of student functioning in
all areas of their lives, especially academic functioning. We promote wellness and facilitate optimal
student functioning through direct service, collaboration, education, prevention, crisis intervention,
self care, advocacy, and social justice.
Diversity at CAPS
CAPS has a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. As shown in our Mission statement, our
primary goal is to provide high quality services to students, faculty, staff, and administrators within
the context of multicultural sensitivity, equity, and inclusion.
- CAPS promotes such values in ALL its programming, outreach, consultations, and trainings.
- Several of our staff also publish on topics related to cultural competence in counseling work. See
our
Staff page for more information.
- Diversity is the foundation of our APPIC-approved
Post-Doctoral Training Pprogram,
as well as our pillar within our former APA-accredited internship training program.
- To review all diversity efforts by CAPS, please visit our
Diversity page.
Our Staff
- The staff of Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) includes licensed psychologists, board
certified psychiatrists, and post-doctoral fellows.
- All of our staff are generalists and see students presenting with a variety of issues. All our
staff members possess clinical experience and expertise in working with diverse student
populations.
- To see our entire staff and bios, please visit our
Staff page.
- The staff members at CAPS are also researchers and writers. The CAPS clinical staff possess a wide
range of publications that deal with various psychology-related topics and issues. To see a list of
writings and research reports published by our staff, please go to our
Staff page and select the Staff
Publications & Research tab.
Contact Us
- Central Office: (858) 534-3755
- After-Hours Crisis Counseling (24 Hours): (858) 534-3755
- Life-threatening Emergencies: call 911 or go to Emergency Room
- College Offices: Please contact your provider directly with the contact information provided to you
at your first meeting or contact the Student Affairs offices listed below under locations.
Hours
- CAPS Offices are open Monday-Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm
-
Urgent Care Hours: 8:00am to 4:00pm
- CAPS Offices are closed on weekends and official University Holidays.
- After-Hours Crisis Counseling (24 Hours): (858) 534-3755
Locations
Please go to our
Locations page for detailed information
of each location.
-
Central Office:
-
Galbraith Hall 190, (858) 534-3755
-
Revelle College:
-
Provost Administration Building, (858) 534-3493
-
Muir College:
-
Humanities & Social Science Building (HSS)2126, (858) 534-3587
-
Marshall College:
-
Marshall Administration Building, (858) 534-4390
-
Warren College:
-
Computer Science & Engineering Building (CSE), First Floor, (858) 534-4731
-
Roosevelt College:
-
ERC Administration Building, 3rd Floor, (858) 534-2237
-
Sixth College:
-
Pepper Canyon Hall, 2nd Floor, (858) 534-1481
-
Women's Center:
-
Old Student Center, West Building 290, (858) 822-0074
-
International Students & Programs Office:
-
Old Student Center B, (858)
534-3730
-
Student Health Services:
-
Group 3 (2nd Floor) and Nurse's Clinic (1st Floor), (858) 534-5571
