CAPS undergoes name change, emphasizes service expansion

CAPS underwent a change to their official title to promote a new era of campus mental health services. CAPS has transitioned from Counseling and Psychological Services to Counseling and Prevention Services, the change signifying a combination of USU’s mental health and wellness services.  

According to Eri Bentley, director of CAPS, the name change came as a result of organizational restructurings under the new USU presidency of Elizabeth Cantwell. 

Over the summer, Cantwell released a message highlighting the importance of the university’s organizational restructuring and fostering greater communication and collaboration on campus. The combination of wellness and counseling services aims to reflect those values. 

“The wellness services that used to be together with the student health center became under us, as CAPS,” Bentley said. “We are under the same roof now, and we can collaborate more effectively.” 

The change from “psychological” to “prevention” is intended to represent a broader scope of services now included under CAPS, rather than only therapy and counseling services.  

“We are known as CAPS, so finding something that allows us to keep that well-known acronym and making a minor change to be really descriptive and inclusive of our services made sense to us,” Bentley said.  

Drug prevention and nutrition services, once located mainly under student health and wellness services, are now a part of the resources available.  

“From a student perspective, nothing really changes much,” Bentley said. “You’re still getting those same ATOD [Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs] services, you’re still getting those same nutrition services.” 

According to Bentley, this organizational change aims to provide better coordination between mental health services and wellness services to make the resources more accessible and immediate for students. 

“Communications will get better, and I’m hoping that the impact on students will be better too,” Bentley said. 

According to Bentley, these wellness and prevention services are intended to reach a larger audience of students who may not know exactly what service they might need.  

“Students don’t need to know if they need nutrition services or individual therapy or group therapy or prevention services,” Bentley said. “They can come to us, and we can easily direct them to the type of services that suit their needs.”  

While the general services provided under the CAPS organization restructuring are staying the same, CAPS is hoping to provide a greater variety of wellness and prevention services in the future. 

“This is the year for us to be brainstorming where we can expand and what kind of things we can do,” Bentley said.  

CAPS encourages students to reach out and provide insight into the kinds of services they think could be beneficial.  

“We are here for students, and we want to hear from students,” Bentley said. “Any ideas or suggestions students have, we would love to hear about them.” 

Jonah Swenson is a clinical case manager at CAPS who helps the program with outreach to make CAPS resources accessible to students. 

“This year, we’ve done some different outreach events to drive students to the third floor of the TSC,” Swenson said. “We’ve also made some website changes for students to be able to request an appointment online instead of having to call in.” 

These small changes aim to spread the word about the types of help available to students at USU and make the process towards getting help as smooth as possible. 

“I think it will be super helpful as this kind of holistic, wellbeing umbrella,” Swenson said. “There’s a lot of us here through different campus resources that are trying to work on mental health for students, and the more communication we can have, I think, is only to the benefit of the students we’re working with.”