Discover what CaPS can offer you.
CaPS offers same-day appointments for urgent situations, 24/7 on-call service for after-hours needs and a variety of counseling and psychological services. Therapists are also available to consult with any member of the university community regarding student mental health concerns.
Confidentiality / Patient Rights & Responsibilities
What is confidentiality?
Respecting your confidentiality is one of Counseling and Psychological Services’ (CaPS) highest priorities. We maintain confidentiality to the limits provided by Pennsylvania law and FERPA guidelines. In accordance with law, we do not release information to anyone outside of CaPS (including parents, administrators, faculty, or potential employers), or disclose that you have received care, without your explicit permission.
In most cases, the only information others have about your experiences in therapy is what you choose to tell them yourself. Counseling records, including the scheduling of appointments and content of counseling sessions, are maintained in files completely separate from the student’s academic records and cannot be accessed by faculty, parents, or any non-CaPS staff without your explicit authorization.
In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania any individual over the age of 14 has the right to keep treatment private from their parents. If you want CaPS to communicate with family members, faculty/staff, or other providers, you can discuss this with a CaPS clinician and complete a Release of Information Form (ROI).
There are exceptions to confidentiality. By law we are obligated to disclose personal information without permission in emergency situations where information is needed to protect the safety of someone whose life may be at risk. You can discuss any concerns you have about the limits to confidentiality with your CaPS therapist at any time.
Communication
CaPS may contact you by phone, email or voicemail as needed and will ask you, upon your first appointment, your preferred method of contact.
Email is not a confidential form of communication so we won’t use email to initiate therapeutic conversations. Things we do communicate by email are appointment reminders, reaching out in case of absence, and scheduling purposes.
Teletherapy
To ensure a confidential, safe environment via teletherapy, you will receive a link to a personalized Zoom room from your clinician. Access to this Zoom room is only provided to whomever the clinician allows into the room. For any session, each person's identity and access to safe and confidential spaces are confirmed for each individual present. Clinicians will meet with you from a secure location, with headphones and/or noise canceling sound machines turned on in their spaces so that no other individuals outside of their respective offices may hear the conversations occurring.
University Health Services
Your consent to treatment includes sharing limited information with members of Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂë’s University Health Services where necessary to coordinate your medical care and treatment.
Recording Sessions for Training Purposes
In addition to providing psychological and psychiatric services, Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂë CaPS serves as a training clinic. This means that one of our functions is to provide direct clinical experience for graduate students, doctoral interns, post-doctoral fellows and other clinicians working to become fully-licensed psychologists, licensed counselors or to obtain additional credentials.
Your treatment provider may be a therapist-in-training. If that is the case, upon the first meeting, you will be notified of their training status and learn who their supervisor is. You have the choice to change providers if this is not someone who you want to meet with. As part of their training you will be asked if the session can be video recorded, with the purpose of getting feedback by their supervisor regarding their performance. You have the right to deny being recorded or request that the recording device be turned off at any time. Sessions recordings are for supervisory and training purposes only, and are kept on a secure server with access limited only to supervising staff. Any information that you reveal, whether oral or written, will not be discussed or shared with anyone outside of Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂë CaPS professional staff without your prior written permission. The recordings are erased promptly after their supervisor provides them with feedback.
Psychiatry Billing through Student Health Plan
Psychiatry service is the only service at CaPS that bills health insurance, and only the student health plan is accepted. For that purpose, we will disclose student medical records to Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂë’s Student Health Insurance provider to obtain reimbursement for your health care or to determine eligibility or coverage. Additionally, when billing student accounts, name, date of service and fee are provided to add that to your account. Please know that this, on the student account, is simply labeled as “Student Health Service.” For more information on billing, visit the Psychiatry webpage.
Patient’s Rights & Responsibilities
Patient’s Rights
- To be treated without discrimination and with respect to differences related to race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, personal values, age, disability, and economic or veteran status.
- To affirm your preferred name and pronouns.
- To be treated in a courteous and caring manner.
- To good quality care provided by competent and culturally sensitive professionals and staff.
- To a private and confidential space for treatment.
- To receive information you need to participate in decisions about your care, and to give consent before any diagnostic or treatment procedure is performed.
- To be informed of treatment options available to you.
- To make informed decisions about your treatment and express your desires to your treating therapist.
- To include family members in your treatment choices.
- To decline treatment at any point and to be given information about the consequences of such actions.
- To review and obtain your treatment records.
- To ask for and receive an explanation of any charges billed by Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂë.
- To provide feedback to the center regarding their care and treatment experience.
Patient’s Responsibilities
- To provide correct and complete information about their health and past mental health and medical history.
- To report if they do not understand the planned treatment or their part in the plan.
- To treat others with respect including CaPS staff, peers in the waiting room, and treating providers.
- To keep your appointment, or change or cancel it in a timely manner, to allow others in need to have access to treatment.
- To protect the privacy of staff and other clients by refraining from photography or video / audio recording on CaPS premises.
- To follow the care, service, or treatment plan developed.