Wardenburg houses the existing office of Psychological Health and Psychiatry, soon to be merged with the office of Counseling and Psychological Services. (Andrew Scales/CU Independent)
Assistant Vice Chancellor for Health and Wellness Dr. Donald Misch, a former psychiatrist and the director of Wardenburg Health Center, told CU Student Government’s Legislative Council Thursday he plans to merge the offices of Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and Psychological Health and Psychiatry (PHP).
CAPS and PHP are CU’s primary mental health treatment offices for students. CAPS is primarily funded through general funds. PHP, which holds alcohol and drug classes for students who get written up, is funded with the student health fee, gold plan and cash payments.
“Several years ago, we started to consider the idea that PHP and CAPS should be combined into one entity,” Misch says, citing confusion between the two offices in budgeting and by students. “Both of these entities have real strengths, and it would be a shame if they didn’t combine.”
He thinks students’ wait time for mental health treatment is too long, and this merger will help shorten the wait.
“Now we just have to announce it,” Misch says.
He didn’t want anyone to know the merger was happening.
“We didn’t want to cause confusion during the academic year,” Misch says.
The plan is for the merger to be complete by the summer and advertised to incoming students. It will still be called CAPS, but the name will be formally changed to Counseling and Psychiatric Services instead of psychological services.
Misch hopes the actual offices can be combined in the same space within two to three years.
Misch says some people from CAPS were “vociferously opposed to the merger.”
CAPS had four to five departures over the summer, with three, including the director of CAPS, leaving because of their opposition to the merger.
“I freely acknowledge some people left because they didn’t agree with the merger,” Misch says.
CAPS is in the process of filling those spots.
Misch also proposed a mental health fee to be added to student fees, which would provide six free visits for students to the new office. The cost would be about $21 per student. CUSG no longer controls Wardenburg, so the decision to approve that fee will be left up to the Student Fee Board and the Board of Regents.
Misch says he expects the Board of Regents to approve the fee, citing the James Holmes trial as a reason the board would be persuaded to add it. He also says if the Regents decide to increase Wardenburg’s funding, the fee will be adjusted to compensate.
“We’re assuming more students will come in for visits (because of the fee and merger).”
Contact CU Independent Breaking News Editor Sam Klomhaus at Samuel.Klomhaus@Colorado.edu
