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Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)
Mental Health Services
Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), a department of Student Health and Counseling Services (SHCS) offers a variety of counseling services to help students realize their academic and personal goals. Meeting with a member of CAPS staff can help students clarify issues, explore options, and cope more effectively. Students currently enrolled who have paid student registration fees can receive counseling services through CAPS at no cost. Most Mental Health Services are located at North Hall. Make an appointment for mental health services.
Individual Counseling
Cost: Free
Eligibility: All registered students
Access: By appointment, or Drop-in (Urgent Care)
Location: North Hall
Availability: Normal Hours of Operation
Individual counseling assists you in clarifying your concerns, examining the solutions you have tried, and developing new coping strategies.
During the first meetings, your counselor will gather information about your personal, intellectual, and emotional style, as well as your relationships and academic status.This assists your counselor in determining which counseling strategies will be most helpful to you. Using this information, you and your counselor will develop goals for counseling. As counseling progresses, new goals may be formed as well.
The counseling process may include learning new problem-solving or coping skills, increasing self-understanding, exploring life patterns, and gaining a better sense of yourself.
It is important to think about what you would like to gain from your counseling sessions. It may be helpful to jot down a list of events, relationships, and feelings that you think are related to your concerns. Take time before each session to think about what you want to accomplish during that meeting. This is your counseling process, so be active in deciding how to use the time. As issues or feelings (either positive or negative) come up during counseling, it may be beneficial to share them with your counselor.
CAPS offers short-term, time-limited therapy to registered UCD students. If open ended counseling or assessment would be the next best step, CAPS provides support to transition to professionals in the community with a referral.
Counseling for (School of Medicine) Med Students:
Cost: Free
Eligibility: All registered school of medicine students
Access: By appointment only
Location: Facilities Support Services Building (FSSB. Suite 1400) (This location is for pre-scheduled appointments only)
Availability: Monday through Thursday, day and evening appointments available
To schedule an appointment:
Call us at (530) 752-0871 and be sure to tell us that you are a Med Student or leave a message for one of the School of Medicine Counselors. Or email us at medschoolcaps@ucdavis.edu.
Meet our School of Medicine Counselors
Psychological urgent care is available at North Hall on the Davis campus.
If you have an emergency after hours of operation or on holidays please call the CAPS main number at (530) 752-0871 and follow the prompts to connect you to a mental health professional. You can call anonymously or leave your name.
The School of Medicine and the campus' Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) office want to maintain your privacy and make sure there is no conflict of interest when services are provided. The CAPS staff is from the main campus and is not affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry or any other UCDHS Department.
Counseling for (Veterinary Medicine) Vet Med Students:
Cost: Free
Eligibility: All registered veterinary medicine students
Access: by appointment only
Location: Schalm Hall (This location is for pre-scheduled appointments only)
To schedule an appointment:
E-Mail us at vetmedcaps@ucdavis.edu
Please let us know all of your available open times for an appointment (days of the week and times of the day) & we will try to schedule an appointment with one of the Vet Med Counselors at the CAPS' Vet Med School Counseling office (Schalm Hall).
Or call us at (530) 752-0871 and be sure to tell us that you are a Vet Med Student
Meet our Veterinary Medicine Counselors
Career Counseling
Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) provides group and individual career counseling and collaborates with the Internship and Career Center (ICC) to provide workshops for interpreting career assessment results. Email careercounseling@shcs.ucdavis.edu for more information.
Career Exploration Group
If you are conflicted between several career options, uncertain about what you might be good at doing, feeling stuck when making a choice, or really just want to know more about career decision making; consider joining the Career Exploration Groups.
Learn more about career exploration groups and other career counseling services.
Group Services
Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) is offering several exciting groups. Groups consist of 4-10 students meeting weekly & are available to all registered UCD students. There is no cost for registered students. If you are interested in a group, please call CAPS at (530) 752-0871 or come to 219 North Hall to schedule an intake or group screening appointment. To participate in a group, a student must first have an intake / group screening appointment. The groups are listed below. CAPS also offers Stress & Wellness Groups and Sports Psychology Workshops. All groups meet in North Hall unless otherwise stated.
Learn more about group services.
Stress and Wellness Clinic
Cultivating wellness and skillful stress management
For more information about the SWC and Workshop schedules visit our Stress & Wellness Clinic webpage
A New Resource: Visit our new Mind Spa
Eating Disorder Services
Eating issues and disorders are important to discuss given the possible serious emotional and physical consequences associated with eating disorders.
For More Information Visit Our Eating Disorder Services Webpage
Community Referrals
You may obtain referrals for mental health professionals by meeting with a counselor at CAPS.
Learn more about community referrals
Sport Psychology Program
CAPS offers performance enhancement counseling and consultation to registered students and student-athletes.
Performance enhancement psychology promotes positive and effective mental health care to enhance performance across life domains (e.g., sport, career, personal, social, etc.).
Psycho-educational material in the areas of Sport Consulting, Psychological Counseling for Student-Athletes, and Performance Enhancement Training are provided to encourage the development of effective mind and body skills.
For more information visit the Applied Sport Psychology Website
Multicultural Immersion Program (MIP)
The Multicultural Immersion Program (MIP) is an intensive educational experience made possible through a partnership between Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and the Department of Sociology.
MIP is based on didactic, experiential, and social justice models of learning, in which students engage in coursework, ongoing dialogue, and campus and community programming, that focus on race relations, intercultural communication, and the appreciation and promotion of cultural pluralism and unit.
Students take a two-quarter course sequence (Sociology 30A and 30B) taught by faculty in the department of Sociology.
Upon completion of the academic courses, students may apply for the MIP Internship, a yearlong paid position that focuses on developing and implementing workshops that address intercultural relations on campus and in the greater Davis community.
Peer Counseling at The House
The House is a drop-in and phone counseling service, open weekdays 8am to 5pm during Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters.
Students can talk to another student about personal and academic problems.
House staff help students with concerns such as relationship, loneliness, depression, and personal growth and provide workshops and wellness programs.
Located adjacent to the Housing Office, The House phone number is (530) 752-2790.
The House is marked as TB-16 on the UCD Map.
Consultation, Outreach and Peer Educational Programs (C.O.P.E.)
The Counseling and Psychological Services staff is available by telephone or by appointment to offer consultation to students, staff, and faculty to discuss students who are experiencing difficulties.
Our staff is also available to offer a psychological perspective in the planning and implementation of various educational programs, as well as, to provide workshops and presentations to the campus community during the academic year at no charge.
Commonly Requested Topics
Stress Management, Consultation and Psychological Services, Mental Health Issues Identification, Relationship/Dating Issues, Alcohol/Drug Abuse, Time Management, Coping with Anxiety, Diversity Awareness, Communication Skills, Conflict Resolution, Eating Disorders, LGBT Issues, Understanding Depression, Gender Issues
Requesting a Workshop or Presentation
When requesting a workshop or presentation, we are asking your assistance in helping us provide quality programs by giving us at least two weeks notice. The minimum number of participants for our programs is 10. The type of program being requested will determine the maximum number of participants.
Please note: our programs are provided between the hours of 8 AM to 6 PM unless other arrangements have been made.
To request a program, or for specific questions concerning consultation, outreach, and educational programs, please contact Diana Davis, Ph.D. (dldavis@ucdavis.edu), Director, Consultation, Outreach & Peer Education Services.
In addition to the topics listed in our Commonly Requested Topics section above, our staff is available to answer questions within their specialty area(s). For this service, please contact the staff identified with the particular interest area.
Distressed and Distressing Students Program
Faculty and staff play a central role in a student's college experience and are in a direct position to become aware when a student is distressed. This workshop will help you understand the components of this critical role: identifying, responding to and referring distressed students.
Responding to Distressed and Distressing Students - An Information Booklet (PDF)