Evaluating the State of Counseling and Psychological Resources on Campus

Amid CAPS reform, Santa Clara’s new Counselors in Residence program proves valuable for student community

It has been more than four months since Santa Clara announced significant changes to the Cowell Center. In September, an all-campus email revealed that the Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) would be introducing CAPS 24/7, a supplemental service offering a crisis hotline, referral support and therapy. CAPS also increased the number of available therapists and added Counselors in Residence (CIRs). 

These changes occurred after several crises during the 2021-2022 school year inspired student demonstrations demanding increased mental health resources.

The CIR program provides mental health services to students seeking help within their own residence halls. The program offers 30-minute “walk-in” therapy sessions where students can address their immediate concerns with Counselors in Residence and get connected with further resources. These counselors live in the residence halls and support resident life student staff by creating weekly events designed to address student mental health needs. 

CIRs are a viable option for students when other CAPS services are unable to assist them. Petra Glenn, Assistant Resident Director of Magis Residential Learning Community, believes that the CIR service has been beneficial because it provides a more individualized counseling experience within Residential Learning Communities (RLCs). 

“Oftentimes, I think the counselors are more accessible than other CAPS services,” said Glenn. “The counselors are live-in employees, a part of the leadership teams of each RLC, and understand each community more intimately and are in tune with what is occurring on campus.” 

At its inception, there were long wait times for students scheduling sessions with the program. 

“Mental health is an immediate issue and many people can't afford to wait long periods of time when seeking help,” said Glenn. “Cowell has made improvements in the hiring of new counselors and therapists for the CAPS program, however, they need to continually make progress until the wait time issue has been eradicated as much as possible.”

Historically, students have dealt with wait times for service providers at CAPS. During the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 academic years, students had to wait 10 to 17 days to meet with a therapist, according to Estrella Ramirez, a Training Director and Staff Psychologist for Cowell. Currently, wait times are shorter at 5 days. 

One factor contributing to longer wait times involves accommodating a student’s request for a therapist of a specific gender, cultural background or clinical specialty. 

“Students may experience longer wait time if a certain demographic of service providers have full caseloads,” said Ramirez. Furthermore, the time in the academic year when seeking services also impacts wait times.

“At the beginning of the year, wait times are shorter, because there are more openings on service providers' caseload,” said Ramirez. “At the beginning of Winter Quarter, wait times increase due to an increase of crisis intervention requests and an increase of requests for other services”

In a Jan. 11 email, CAPS suggested completing At Risk Mental Health for Students, a 40-minute interactive course that provides healthy coping strategies, teaches how to recognize signs of distress in peers and gives guidance to students seeking additional resources. Courses like this are prudent at this time of year, as Seasonal Affective Disorder can be particularly troubling for students during wintertime. 

The need for universities to ensure proper counseling resources is indispensable. From 2009-2015, the number of students seeking help at counseling centers increased by 40% and continued to rise until the pandemic began. A 2021 national survey by American College Health revealed that 75% of students reported moderate or severe psychological distress. 

As students deal with a wide range of challenges such as the ongoing COVID pandemic, mass violence and the unpredictable nature of college coursework, ensuring effective mental health services for students will continue to be a priority for CAPS. 

Cowell is implementing new programs designed to help students manage distress, such as Conquering Moods, where students learn skills to understand and manage emotions, gain distress tolerance skills, and communicate more effectively. Cowell has also added a third Therapist in Residence to increase access to mental health resources in residence halls.

“Students in crisis who would like to meet with a CAPS therapist experience a wait time of 5-20 minutes. Finally, students can speak with a licensed therapist outside of CAPS immediately by calling CAPS 24/7 at (408) 554-5220,” said Ramirez.