CAPS Service Model & Scope of Practice
CAPS supports Aggie mental health needs by helping Texas A&M students meet their academic goals within the context of service eligibility, the academic calendar, student obligations and CAPS resources. CAPS subscribes to a short-term, goal-oriented public health model, which incorporates a variety of resources and support mechanisms to tailor mental health treatment to each student on a case-by-case basis, maintaining flexibility to prescribe amounts and frequencies of sessions based on student needs and according to provider expertise and availability.
We believe everyone in the campus community plays an important role in students’ mental health, and we rely on collaboration with campus partners to help students reach their academic potential. Seeking to serve such a large student population by providing personalized and evidence-based mental health care, CAPS embraces the responsibility to meet student needs in an equitable way, utilizing university and community resources with consideration given to the scheduling and limitations of the academic calendar.
Clinically, CAPS utilizes a goal-oriented, short-term model approach emphasizing use of:
- Group Therapy
- Workshops
- Psychoeducation and Self-help resources
- Connecting with other TAMU departmental resources
* Group therapy and workshops are unlimited for eligible students.
Clinical services are structured to prioritize:
- Student access to CAPS
- Assessment of needs
- Increasing awareness and understanding of mental-health concerns
- Stabilization of mental-health concerns
- Connection/Referral to sustainable external resources for ongoing care
Common Concerns & Practices
CAPS provides individual brief, goal-oriented assessment and counseling for mild to moderate common mental health concerns such as stress, anxiety, depression, relational stress, career development, and adjustment concerns with the goal of transitioning to external sustainable, ongoing resources as clinically needed. When classes are in session, we provide a range of mental health services. Once final exams begin, counselors are available for urgent, crisis-related services and will resume all services the first day of the following semester. Students maintain access to a variety of self-help resources covering a range of mental health concerns 24/7 through the CAPS website.
For longer-term counseling needs, CAPS providers consult internally to determine departmental-supported treatment plans to better assist students at higher risk of not persisting towards academic goals, considering factors such as:
- Acute safety concerns
- Critical/Urgent-incident support
- Complex clinical presentations (with the goal of assessment, stabilization and referral)
- Barriers to accessing external resources for mental health care
Given that CAPS utilizes a goal-oriented, short-term model approach to meet the needs of as many students as possible, some clinical issues — including more critical, severe mental health concerns which must first be addressed by stabilization — will necessarily be addressed through a community referral. Depending on the specific context of each situation, such referrals might occur immediately following an initial assessment or at any time during the treatment process based on clinical judgment. In the event that a student is best served by a referral to a community provider or service, the student’s CAPS provider will make that determination in consultation with multiple mental health professionals at CAPS and will work with the student to ensure a smooth transfer of care.
Accessibility for psychiatric services is only through a referral process. Scope of psychiatric services is determined by clinical judgment and availability. Students who have established a psychiatric provider within about a 200-mile radius are typically encouraged to continue with that provider.
Crisis intervention is available for eligible students Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. HelpLine is available from 4 p.m. to 8 a.m and 24 hours over the weekend when classes are in session.
Clinical issues that will likely be addressed through a community referral include but are not limited to:
- Students with chronic mental health conditions that require longer-term, ongoing care.
- Clinical presentations, such as some personality disorders, that indicate short-term therapy may be ineffective and/or detrimental.
- A need or desire to be seen more frequently than CAPS can accommodate. Excessive utilization of CAPS crisis intervention services indicates that standard session frequency is inadequate.
- Chronic suicidality and/or recent history of multiple suicide attempts.
- Severe and chronic self-injury.
- A history of multiple psychiatric hospitalizations.
- Issues that require more specialized care than can be provided at CAPS, including:
- Significant or chronic disordered eating symptoms posing medical danger
- Significant or chronic substance use/abuse which interferes with engagement in therapy
- Active symptoms of psychosis at risk for progressive deterioration.
Other reasons why we may refer students to community resources include, but are not limited to:
- Lack of motivation or engagement in treatment, as evidenced by:
- Unwillingness to provide information sufficient for clinical assessment
- Inability to identify a treatment goal appropriate for brief mental health counseling
- Inconsistent attendance (More than 2 no shows and/or late cancellations may require a meeting
with an administrator) - Poor compliance with treatment recommendations
- Ongoing treatment relationship with another mental health provider.
- Inappropriate, harassing, menacing, threatening, or violent behaviors.
- Mandated or required treatment, including, but not limited to:
- Counseling ordered through legal proceedings, such as substance abuse treatment, alcohol
education, anger management, parenting education, or domestic violence treatment - Counseling required by external entities, such as employers, government agencies, academic
departments, or classes
- Counseling ordered through legal proceedings, such as substance abuse treatment, alcohol
- Comprehensive psychological evaluation of any type, including, but not limited to:
- Neuropsychological evaluations
- Forensic assessments
- Custody evaluations
- Assessment and documentation for service or support animals
- State/Federal benefit programs, including vocational rehabilitation and social security/disability
- Fitness-for-duty evaluations
- Pre-surgical mental health evaluations
- When treatment is not advancing, the ethical guidelines of the mental health providers of the CAPS
may necessitate termination of therapy and referral to community resources. - Other situations that are determined to be outside the scope of services provided by CAPS, or in
which case a clinical staff member determines that treatment would be detrimental to the client or to
the proper functioning of the facility.