While we know the value of care for our mental health throughout the year, COVID-19 has caused additional stressors, even for people who typically have few mental health concerns. Online learning, social distancing, quarantine, and isolation can be overwhelming and cause even more stress for undergraduate and graduate students. Finding ways to cope with stress in a healthy way will make you, the people you care about, and your community stronger.
MSU offers a wide range of support to help you experience mental health and wellness. Do not hesitate to reach out to this wide range of resources.
Health and safety have a big impact on your success. Student Health and Wellness offers programs designed to help you develop healthy behaviors, manage your mental health, get immediate support in a crisis and more. Each of our five departments — Health Services, Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS), Health Promotion, Center for Survivors, and Safe Place — are here for you year-round.
The Student Health Services team provides preventative health care and services for illness and injuries. Services are available by appointment at Olin Health Center and the four neighborhood clinics (McDonel, Hubbard, Brody and Holden).
Services include:
Radiology and pharmacy services are also available on campus. Registered MSU students are not charged for the first three medical office visits each academic year (some services, such as laboratory tests or x-rays, are billed separately). For information about these and other services, visit olin.msu.edu or call (517) 884-6546.
The Health Promotion department aims to challenge the health attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions of the MSU community through education, environmental management and harm reduction efforts so students can better pursue their personal and academic goals. Services include:
CAPS is committed to providing students the most appropriate available care to optimize your health, well-being and success. Services include short-term individual counseling, group counseling, medication, referrals to other services and more.
For information about all CAPS services, visit caps.msu.edu.
Crisis Services are available 24/7. Call 517-355-8270 and press “1” to speak with a crisis counselor at any time.
If you are interested in exploring options to support their mental health should visit caps.msu.edu/schedule to schedule a consultation with CAPS. Complete a brief questionnaire about your goals, which CAPS will discuss with you during your consultation.
During the call, the counselor will ask questions and listen to gain a better understanding of your background and unique concerns and needs. Next, CAPS will work to connect you with the most appropriate and available resources to meet your needs. Services could include individual or group counseling, referrals to other on- or off-campus care and more.
Keep in mind that licensing laws require many CAPS’ staff to provide treatment services only to students residing in Michigan. Consultation, referral and care management services are offered on a limited basis to out-of-state students to help you connect with local resources.
CAPS also offers outreach services such as:
College can be stressful at times, but have you ever been truly concerned for a friend? Would you feel comfortable expressing your concerns and motivating your friend to get help? It can be difficult to deal with these kinds of issues, but an effective conversation can help more than you think—it can help change someone’s life.
At MSU we want to make sure that we can all recognize signs of distress and know what to say if a friend needs help. Kognito for Students is an online simulation that lets you practice conversations with a virtual student, so you’ll know what to say in real life. You’ll learn how to determine when a friend needs help, how to talk with a friend who you’re worried about, and where you and your friend can turn to for help. To complete the simulation, follow the instructions below:
If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact tech support at at support@kognito.com or 212.675.9234.
If you would like to introduce Kognito to a student organization, or if you have questions about Kognito at MSU, please contact Dr. Sheila Marquardt: marqua36@msu.edu.
The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is a confidential short-term counseling and referral service provided at no cost to MSU faculty, staff, graduate assistants, retirees, and their insurance eligible dependents who are located within the state of Michigan.
EAP’s resource page: https://eap.msu.edu/resources
EAP’s resource guide responding : https://eap.msu.edu/files/attachment/132/original/Resource%20Guide%20-%203.27.2020.pdf
Health4U’s Emotional Wellness courses page, with upcoming courses and webinars and such will be posted: https://health4u.msu.edu/wellness/courses
Health4U general courses page, which has all of the focus areas (Emotional Wellness, Food and Nutrition, MSU Moves, My Health, and Alcohol, Nicotine, and Drug Information (ANDI): https://health4u.msu.edu/courses