FAQs

Please give us a call at 434-243-5150 during business hours to schedule a Brief Screening phone appointment. Depending on the time of year and your schedule, Brief Screenings are scheduled within 1 to 5 business days. Please click here for more information.

If you need help but feel that you can’t wait for the next available Brief Screening appointment, please inform the CAPS receptionist that you are in crisis and ask to be connected to the Emergency Consult Clinician. If it is during business hours, you can also come to CAPS for an unscheduled visit with our Emergency Consult Clinician. If it is an afterhours emergency, please call 434-243-5150 and ask to speak with the CAPS Emergency Consult Clinician.

Visit the CAPS Community Referral Database for a list of providers in Charlottesville including therapists and psychiatric providers: https://virginia.rints.com/

Yes. It would be helpful to make sure you are in a location where you have a sense of privacy and relative quiet, as well as an adequate cell phone signal.  If you are taking medications of any kind, know their names and doses.  Lastly, having the name of your insurance company will allow the screening clinician to best meet your needs.

Many students needing services will be scheduled for follow-up appointments with CAPS professionals. However, some students will be assisted in connecting with providers outside of CAPS.  Most often, referrals are recommended based upon students’ needs or preferences for longer term treatment. Charlottesville has an excellent private practice community, so finding care nearby is achievable. If a referral appears to be the best option for you, CAPS staff will help you connect with a provider who has expertise in the concerns you are reporting and works within your financial means or accepts your insurance. CAPS also has Care Managers who can assist with more complex referral needs, including referrals to providers near your hometown.

You will be asked why you decided to contact CAPS, what you need help with, and how you are functioning.  This includes things like sleep, energy level, academic performance, appetite, thoughts of self-harm or harm to others, and substance use.

Call our front desk (434-243-5150) and reschedule the Brief Screening as soon as possible.

The clinician you see will inquire about different aspects of your current difficulties in order to understand your situation.  At the conclusion of your intake, the clinician will provide you with a set of follow-up recommendations.  These may involve referral to one of several different group therapies or brief individual psychotherapy .  Sometimes psychotherapy is augmented by the prescription of psychiatric medication.  If your intake clinician feels medication may be worthy of consideration, he or she will discuss those options with you.  Alternatively, your intake clinician may provide assistance in connecting you with a community provider or schedule a meeting with a CAPS Care Manager to coordinate accessing community resources.

CAPS offers various groups to address wide range of concerns. All of these groups are confidential and free of charge to full-time UVA students.

In order to join a group, students must first participate in a Brief Screening and/or Intake Assessment with a CAPS therapist.  Following a Brief Screening or Intake, you may also be asked to complete a Group Screening. A Group Screening is required for most groups at CAPS.  The Group Screening is an opportunity for you to ask more questions about the group in which you are interested. It also provides the group leader(s) with a chance to get to know you and explain how a group may or may not be a good fit for you. Contact the CAPS’s Group Coordinator, to inquire more about the CAPS group therapy program.

Your psychiatric provider will help you schedule your psychiatry appointments so that you don’t run out of medication between visits. It is the expectation of the psychiatric team that you will stay on top of any medications that you take and regularly keep appointments in order to continue to receive prescribed medications. If you miss a psychiatry appointment, you should reschedule it immediately to avoid running out of medication. If you do need to call for a prescription refill, you should call your psychiatric provider no later than 3 business days before you run out of your medication.

CAPS psychiatric providers do not see students who only need prescriptions for ADHD medications.  For this specific need, you will generally be referred to a community psychiatrist.  However, if you are also experiencing emotional or psychological difficulties and are interested in obtaining help from CAPS through a combination of therapy and medication, your CAPS psychiatric provider may then prescribe your ADHD medication.

If you are referred to a CAPS psychiatric provider and you've previously been diagnosed with ADHD, you should bring documentation of all ADHD-related assessments to your initial psychiatric appointment.  You will also need to see a Student Health General Medicine physician for a cardiac screening exam before a CAPS psychiatric provider can prescribe ADHD medication for you. This is required by UVA Student Health Center policy.

If you find yourself about to run out of medication, your best option is to contact the physician who originally prescribed your medication to obtain a refill.  Most refills (excluding most ADHD medications) can be called into a local pharmacy, including the UVA Health Center satellite pharmacy located in Student Health, by your original physician.

You should not expect to receive a prescription from a CAPS psychiatric provider who has not been involved in your treatment. If you want to start seeing a psychiatrist in Charlottesville, plan to transfer your care before you run low on your prescription.

If you are unable to receive a refill prescription from your original prescribing physician and you are running out of medication, you may seek help at the following same day clinics in Charlottesville: MedExpress Urgent Care (434-978-3998) in Seminole Square, First Med, Inc. (434-984-4200) on Riverbend Road in Pantops, or Martha Jefferson Hospital Urgent Care Center (434-982-8500) on Peter Jefferson Hwy in Pantops.

You can fill an online form to make an outreach request. For more information on our Outreach programs, please click here.

Students who pay the comprehensive student fee are eligible to receive help from CAPS at no additional charge.  We are also available to consult with parents, concerned community members, university faculty, staff, or administrators who may need to discuss student issues.

Yes.  Please click here for more detailed information