Appointments & Services

First time clients and returning clients must complete the CAPS Registration Forms each academic year prior to scheduling their first appointment. Clients returning from fall semester counseling will only need to submit an Updated Availability Form.

• Forms can be accessed Monday - Friday 7:15am-4:15pm
• You will have up to 30 minutes to complete your forms. Incomplete forms will not be saved or submitted.
• To access the forms, you must be on the URWIN wifi network. Those not on the network must download a VPN from the UR Help Desk and log in to access the forms.
• Once forms are submitted to CAPS the student will be contacted by email or phone within one business day with an appointment offer within availability provided. We will offer an appointment within your given availability.
  • If you have not been contacted with an appointment within one business day of submitting your registration forms, call CAPS at 804-289-8119.

• TIPS:
  • Provide as much information as possible when completing the registration forms.
  • Provide all of your weekly availability. The more availability you provide, the easier and faster it is to get an appointment scheduled. Availability should include any time you are not in class.

If you are experiencing a mental health emergency contact CAPS directly at 804-289-8119 M-F from 8:30-4:30. After hours call URPD at 804-289-8911. Visit our Crisis page for more information.

• Your first visit will be a  25-30 minute consultation appointment. This appointment might be virtual if that is the first available within your given availability.
  
  • For personal planning purposes, allow up to 1 hour.

• Your provider will focus on learning about your mental health goals and meeting your immediate needs, and will conclude by making a recommendation about next steps based on the meeting.

Students typically utilize CAPS for 1-8 sessions to reach their goals. We have found students who are able to dedicate more time and energy to working on their mental health outside of the meetings usually have quicker and better results.

CAPS has multiple brief consultation appointments available every day in order to meet students’ needs. These appointments are available on a first come, first served basis.

• We will strive to schedule the initial brief consultation appointment on the same day as the registration forms are completed based on appointment availability and the student’s weekly availability form.
• Students who are already registered with CAPS for the current academic year and would like to request a same day urgent appointment, should complete the AR FORM. The form is located at the bottom of the forms page. NOTE: Please DO NOT complete the CAPS Registration forms again; if you have questions contact CAPS at 804-289-8119. 

CAPS offers crisis appointments daily. If you are experiencing a mental health emergency including frequent suicidal/homicidal thoughts or hearing voices or seeing things that others aren’t hearing or seeing:

• Call CAPS directly at 804-289-8119 Monday-Friday from 8:30-4:30.
• After hours call URPD immediately at 804-289-8911.
• Visit our Crisis page for more information.

In most cases, CAPS clients will have the option to meet either in-person or remotely.

• Students attending remote sessions must be physically located in the state of Virginia. 
• If you are in need of a private space to speak to a counselor remotely, please see the list of spaces on campus: Private Spaces

Counseling Services:

• Students who no show to a Brief Consultation appointment will not be automatically rescheduled and CAPS will reach out to attempt to reschedule if interested.
• Students must make every effort to attend all scheduled counseling appointments. Students who miss two appointments without notifying CAPS at least 24 hours in advance may be referred off campus.
• Students who arrive more than 10 minutes late for a counseling appointment may be asked to reschedule.
• Students who miss the first session of a CAPS program may be unable to move forward and must wait to join the next session.

Psychiatric Services:

• Students must make every effort to attend all scheduled psychiatric appointments. Students who miss two psychiatric appointments without notifying CAPS at least 24 hours in advance may no longer be eligible to use this service.

Individual counseling may be the most appropriate and quickest way to help students reach their goals. A counselor and student work together to identify goals that may be in a variety of realms of the student’s life: personal, relational, developmental, substance use, trauma, academic and other concerns that are preventing the student from functioning well.

Visit the CAPS Groups & Program flyer for specific course offerings.

WHY GROUP? The real question is, WHY NOT GROUP?

• Research tells us that groups can be an effective way for college students to gain psychological resilience (Lee and Arora, 2023), are as effective as individual therapy (Pashak et al., 2024), and are beneficial to promoting a sense of inclusion and belonging (Coppedge & Gillum, 2025).
• Groups meet weekly, so it can be a great if you’re looking for more frequent services beyond individual therapy at CAPS (which is typically bi-weekly).
• It can help you feel less alone! Students often find it helpful to meet with other students who are going through similar challenges and to realize they are not the only one going through an experience.
• You can benefit even when you say very little but listen carefully to others! It can be really powerful to get feedback and support from a peer who can relate to you. You also might learn more about yourself from hearing others’ stories and struggles.
• Groups provide a safe place to try new behaviors and skills in a confidential, counselor-facilitated setting (i.e. if you’re thinking about how you might have a difficult conversation with a friend, try practicing with the group!)
• Groups can be a great way to gain confidence socially! Being anxious at first in a group setting is TOTALLY expectable and OK. Students often find it helpful to gain some exposure to potentially anxiety-provoking social interactions in a safe, facilitated manner like our groups.

Skill-Building Programs and Workshops
Are you looking to learn specific skills for coping and managing stress? If so, our Skill- Building Programs and Workshops may be right for you! This can be a great first step for anyone pursuing CAPS services who is looking to learn concrete, practical, and proactive skills for managing distress.

Our programs and workshops typically meet weekly for 1 to 1.5 hours over the course of 3 to 4 weeks. We usually have no more than 6 to 8 students in our programs/workshops. Skills taught in our programs and workshops are based on “evidence-based practices,” which are psychological techniques that have been proven by research to be effective.

Group Counseling
Group Counseling opportunities provide weekly support for students with 1-2 CAPS providers and a group of peers addressing struggles related to various topics. We usually have no more than 6 to 8 students per group. These group offerings are typically longer-term (8+ weeks or semester-long) and tend to be less structured than the skill-building programs. A student may be referred to group counseling if they are seeking weekly check-ins at CAPS, struggle with relationship struggle with relationship, interpersonal, or emotional concerns and would benefit from peer feedback and support, and/or are looking for support around a specific topic for which we offer a support group or centers around the experiences of a particular identity or lived experience.

How do I sign up for a group or skill-building workshop?
All CAPS Group Counseling and Skill-Building Programs/Workshops require the student to be a CAPS client who has completed a brief consultation appointment with a counselor, but and can be pursued with or without participation in individual counseling at CAPS.

If you’re interested in a group, ask your counselor at your Brief Consultation appointment or email caps@richmond.edu. They can assist you with scheduling a brief, 20 – 30 minute Pre-Group Interview. During this meeting, you’ll have the opportunity to meet with the facilitator(s) of the group and ask any questions you may have about the group. We’ll ask you some standard questions we ask of all potential group participants. Ultimately, we’ll collaborate with you during the meeting to help you determine if the group is the right fit for your needs.

There is no commitment to attend the group if you participate in the Pre-Group Interview and decide later that you don’t want to participate. So we encourage students to try it as a low-stakes way just to learn more about our group offerings!

CAPS offers psychiatric services to full-time students who are engaged in on-going CAPS counseling services.

Referrals to psychiatric providers can only be made by a CAPS counselor who has met with the student one or more times.

• Students seeking medication only will be assisted in finding an appropriate provider off-campus at the student’s expense.
• Psychiatric care at the counseling center cannot be provided during school breaks or over the summer. Prescription medications will need to be maintained by the primary care providers or psychiatric providers in the student’s local community (or virtually, with an off-campus provider) during those times.

Students who already have a satisfactory relationship with a prescribing professional off-campus are encouraged to continue working with that professional.

INFORMED CONSENT: PYSCHIATRIC CARE

Our psychiatric providers can only see those students who are actively engaged in CAPS counseling services. For those seeking psychiatric medication without counseling, CAPS can provide referrals for off campus care. Students who have SHIP (Student Health Insurance Plan) also have the option of meeting with psychiatric providers virtually through Teladoc/Healthiest You for (non-controlled) psychiatric medication management.

Psychiatric services at CAPS are not available over winter break and from mid-May through mid-August. During these times, students are responsible for arranging alternate psychiatric treatment in their current location. Psychiatric services at CAPS must be reestablished each academic year by completing the CAPS registration process and resuming counseling services.

ADHD is a disorder that typically causes significant or severe impairment in academic, social, and interpersonal functioning.

CAPS will provide ADHD-specific assessments based on the following guidelines:

1. ADHD-specific assessments are for full-time UR students whose symptoms significantly interfere with their academic, social, and interpersonal functioning.
2. Students must be willing to seek accommodations and must be willing to participate in treatment (counseling, skills building, and/or medication). Students should not be seeking assessment because “I just want to know.”
3. An assessment typically takes at least 6–8 weeks to complete. As such, seniors, students in their last year of school, and/or students who initiate services later in the year may not be eligible for an assessment on-campus at CAPS. Assessment capacity at CAPS is determined based on the individual case, the time of year of the request, and the anticipated duration of the student’s enrollment at the university. If CAPS cannot accommodate your assessment on-campus, we can help with referrals for testing off-campus at the student’s expense.
4. The ADHD-specific assessment results are intended only for UR accommodations and are not designed for documentation for high- stake exams like the LSAT, MCAT, GRE, etc. This is because we are conducting an ADHD-specific assessment, rather than performing a full assessment, which would require intelligence, achievement, and other specialized testing to rule out a learning disability or other neurodevelopmental disorders.
5. Many students can get accommodations based on a psychological disorder and do not need to go through the ADHD-specific assessment process. CAPS requires that the student has a therapeutic relationship with a counselor and will not provide documentation at the first session.
6. Scheduling an ADHD-specific assessment depends on many factors, such as the time of year, the student’s schedule, and the assessor’s schedule. The process takes anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks or longer from start to finish.
7. There is no cost for the ADHD-specific assessments at CAPS.

Rachel Turk, Psy.D., LCP

CAPS and the University of Richmond Athletics Department have collaborated to make mental health for our athletes a priority. Dr. Turk is located at the Robins Center and meets with varsity student-athletes. She specializes in working with survivors of trauma, individuals with eating concerns, and student-athletes. She is able to work with the UR student-athletes on both mental health concerns and sports performance issues.

Dr. Turk can provide the following services:

• Consultation for student-athletes, coaches, staff, and faculty (for concerns about students)
• Brief individual therapy
• Outreach activities such as presentations, workshops, trainings, guest lectures, interviews, etc.
• Ongoing team/group sessions/programs created and individualized to team needs.
• Referrals to other resources both on and off campus
• Group therapy

Confidentiality: Dr. Turk is an employee of CAPS, and the same CAPS confidentiality standards apply to her work in the Robins Center. Information for her clients is maintained separately from any other athletic, academic, or administrative records and cannot be shared outside of CAPS without permission of the client unless certain legal exceptions apply. In addition, Dr. Turk is a confidential employee and in her role as therapist is not mandated to report sexual assault information to the university.

For student-athletes looking to get scheduled for an appointment with Dr. Turk or her graduate trainees in the Robins Center, email Dr. Turk at rturk@richmond.edu

Athletic Mental Health Resources

CAPS Scope of Services for Accommodation Requests
Each licensed mental health professional at CAPS can provide documentation of the need for academic and psychological accommodations for a client with a mental health diagnosis. Unlicensed staff, residents, interns, and advanced graduate trainees must consult with their supervisor regarding such requests. Clients seeking assistance with an accommodation application are expected to participate in counseling and skill-building strategies as recommended by the clinician. If a request falls outside CAPS’ scope of services, the clinician will refer the student to off-campus resources.

Accommodation requests that fall outside the scope of CAPS services and for which CAPS clinicians do not provide documentation include (this is not an exhaustive list):

• Emotional support animal (ESA) requests
• Diagnosis of a specific learning disability

Documentation for Housing Requests Based on a Mental Health Condition
The University of Richmond is primarily an undergraduate residential institution where sharing a room is typically expected. A mental health condition may be considered a disability. Licensed mental health clinicians at CAPS can provide recommendations for housing requests based on a student’s mental health condition that substantially limits their ability to live in a standard University housing unit. However, these recommendations do not guarantee that the accommodation will be granted. We do not grant adjustments to the residential environment based on personal preference or a desire for a particular building or room location. Instead, housing adjustments are made for individuals with documented mental health needs.

CAPS clinicians will not provide documentation for housing accommodation requests during the first session. A therapeutic relationship, based on a thorough assessment of the client’s functioning, often takes 4 to 8 sessions to build trust and a shared understanding of goals.

Examples of Housing Requests that Generally WILL NOT Be Approved.

In the following scenarios, the requested housing accommodation would be desirable, but the request is generally considered a fundamental alteration to the college housing program and is not reasonable or an appropriate accommodation. See the University of Richmond Disability Services link: https://disability.richmond.edu/apply-for-accommodations/index.html#housing

I need a single room as a space to be alone, retreat to, and decompress.
UR is a residential campus with the expectation that students will share a room or living space. UR students are encouraged to seek out and discover places on campus to decompress, unwind, or process their emotions, other than their room, where they sleep and share with another person. The following options are available to students:

• UR has four libraries, multiple study rooms in residence halls, a Chapel, a music center, and various spaces in the Deans’ suites to retreat to and decompress.
• Students can find a private nook or space in one of our academic buildings that are generally open, where they can nestle in to read or think.
• The Well-Being Center offers sleep pods, a meditation room, and a salt therapy room to help students relax.
• Enjoy solitary walks around the lake or through the tree-lined neighborhood.

I need a single room because I get too distracted when I try to study or do homework.
The University offers many quiet places on campus where students can study:

• UR has four libraries that are open to students’ use.
• Most residence halls have open study rooms.
• Academic buildings are open for students to find a nook or an empty classroom to spread out and do work.
• The Tyler Haynes Commons is open for use for students to study. Students can also study in the various eateries on campus.

I need a single room because I need control over my space.
Each student will need to recognize what is within their control in a shared living experience. It is unreasonable to expect to control the entire space. However, it is reasonable to expect to control your belongings and set boundaries with your roommate(s). Sharing space and setting boundaries with a roommate is a skill that can be learned and is expected of all students. There are resources in the offices of Residence Life and Housing, the Deans’ offices, the Chaplaincy, and at CAPS to help students learn to live in harmony with others and set boundaries appropriately.

I need a single room because I had a bad roommate before, and I am afraid it will happen again.
Less-than-perfect roommate situations may happen. Using a growth mindset to overcome adversity means taking what you can learn from a bad roommate situation and applying those lessons to a new situation. Students can:

• Make an appointment with Residence Life and Housing staff to discuss their concerns about the roommate agreement and to establish rules for living together from the beginning.
• Work with the CAPS counselors to talk through their past experiences, determine strategies, and receive support for moving into a new roommate relationship.

I need a single room because I have items I fear might be stolen.

• All students are encouraged to purchase a lockbox or small safe to keep their valuables, including medications, out of sight.
• Always lock your dorm room when you leave.

Sources of information:
St. Olaf College
https://wp.stolaf.edu/dac/disability-accommodations-for-housing-guidelines/
Disability Accommodations for Housing Guidelines - St. Olaf College

Virginia Commonwealth University
https://saeo.vcu.edu/requests/housing-accommodations/

Colgate University
https://www.colgate.edu/about/campus-services-and-resources/accessible-housing/