CAPS Clinical Services
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Crisis Counseling
Urgent Situations
Contact a CAPS on-call clinician at 650-723-3785 for urgent situations any time, including evenings and weekends. In an urgent situation, a clinician will speak with you within 20 minutes of your call and, if needed, will see you the same day. The on-call clinician will assess your situation and offer recommendations for follow-up counseling.
After hours, calls are forwarded to our answering service, which will page the CAPS on-call clinician.
Sexual Assault
The Office of Sexual Assault & Relationship Abuse (SARA) and the YWCA Sexual Assault Center at Stanford offer immediate, individual counseling and referrals to students who are affected by sexual assault, sexual harassment and violence in relationships.
Emergencies
For life threatening emergencies, call for immediate help or go to nearest hospital emergency room.
Call 911 (or 9-911 from an on-campus phone)
Individual Counseling
A CAPS therapist provides an initial evaluation and discusses ways to deal with your concerns. A CAPS social worker, psychologist, or psychiatrist will asses how to best address your concerns. If brief therapy is the appropriate treatment, you generally meet weekly with your therapist for 50 minutes.
Therapists are assigned to students based upon availability and expertise, rather than discipline. All of our therapists are able to assist you in assessment and planning treatment.
Stanford students are eligible for an initial consultation. Evaluations and short-term counseling require no fee for students who have paid the Campus Health Service Fee (or for a charge for students who have not paid the Campus Health Service Fee).
Couples Counseling
Several of our therapists are trained in couples therapy. For couples therapy, only one of you needs to be a Stanford student. There is no charge for brief couples therapy if you have paid the Campus Health Service Fee.
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Long-Term Counseling
Some issues are more appropriately addressed in long-term therapy due to their complexity and history. Generally students for whom long-term treatment is appropriate are referred to a clinic or therapist in the community. Efforts will be made to help these students find providers who take the student’s health insurance.
Sometimes a CAPS therapist has an opening for long-term therapy and will offer this for a fee. The fee begins when you and your therapist agree on the need for longer term therapy. Your insurance benefits may be applied to the CAPS fee.
Medication Evaluations
If you or your therapist feel that medication should be considered as part of treatment, there are CAPS psychiatrists available to consult and help determine if medications are appropriate.
An initial 50 minute medication evaluation is available at no charge if you have paid the Campus Health Service Fee.
Medication Management
Once a psychiatric medication has been prescribed as part of your treatment at CAPS, you will be asked to come in periodically for medication monitoring. You will be charged for medication management on a fee for service basis. Medication checks are 20 minutes in length.
When you are first prescribed medication, or if the dose is being adjusted, medication checks usually occur every 1-3 weeks. Once the medication dose is stable medication checks usually occur every 1-3 months. Your psychiatrist will discuss with you your specific needs and appropriate frequency of medication checks.
If you run out of medications prior to the next available medication appointment, you may be prescribed medication during working hours until the next available appointment. After hours and on weekends medication refill requests will not be filled (except for exceptional circumstances.)
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