From a lack of transparency regarding counselor licensing to inadequate support for DePaul’s large campus population, UCAPS hasn’t sufficiently met students’ needs from the start.   

Editor’s note: Ella McCoy is a Staff Writer at 14 East Magazine.

Junior Lilly Patrick had been eager for mental-health support since the beginning of the 2023 Autumn Quarter, when she decided to try the new therapy service DePaul had to offer. 

After her first few sessions with her counselor, she finally felt like she was getting comfortable enough to open up to someone new about her mental health. That was until her counselor said they would refer her outside of the service at the end of the quarter. Patrick and her counselor only met a total of four times before she was told she would benefit more from receiving more specialized help. 

After about two months of waiting, nearing the end of week nine of Winter Quarter, Patrick still had not received a referral for her to see other counselors in the area or any message checking in on her well-being. 

“Last quarter she told me that she would refer me to other places to receive further help with my mental health before the winter break,” Patrick said. “But it’s almost the end of the quarter now and I still haven’t heard back.”

DePaul University rebranded its counseling services to University Counseling and Psychological Services (UCAPS) in July 2022, after the university ended its contract with the support line My Student Support (SSP). 

UCAPS currently has 11 full-time clinicians and one part-time psychiatrist for DePaul’s more than 20,000 students. The counseling services offered focus on “free, goal-focused, collaborative, short-term, confidential, individual and group counseling services for DePaul students,” according to the UCAPS website. The service also offers a 24/7 care line students can use to call and connect with a counselor.   

Even with the new counseling services, some students say their mental-health needs are not being met and the service has fallen short in providing adequate support. 

After originally going through a long process of signing up through the UCAPS system to get assigned to a counselor, Patrick was told in her last session that she would have to go through the signup process again starting after the winter break if she chose to use the service again. 

The process to go back through the UCAPS system is lengthy, with multiple pages requesting basic information and responses to questions. Students are asked to provide medical information, sign agreements and complete an availability screener. Returning students are required to go through the site and answer each question for a second time. Despite having used the service before, there is still a chance a returning student will be assigned to a new counselor who knows nothing about their history. 

UCAPS uses the Titanium Schedule system, which has two different forms for students to fill out, one for new clients and another for returning clients. Both forms take students through the same amount of questions, even if it is not the first time a student is going through the system. 

Before submitting an application, students choose a date and time for the appointment. They are able to see what is offered virtually, by phone or in person, on the Loop or Lincoln Park campus. After submitting the form, students will wait 24 to 48 hours before receiving an email assigning them a counselor and confirming the date, time and location of the appointment.

“This (scheduling) is a time-consuming process to then meet with someone who you didn’t have before and who doesn’t know anything about you,” Patrick said. 

Dawson Hobbs, a senior DePaul student, first used UCAPS in the Autumn Quarter 2022 and stopped using it in June 2023. 

For Hobbs, walking directly across the street to the Student Center was convenient. The reason he eventually stopped using the service was because from his very first session, the counselor pushed it as more of a short-term option for students. 

“Like a stepping stone,” he said. “I think it was kind of more like, when you’re in a tough spot, you can come see us. That’s kind of how they told it to me.”

After eight sessions, Hobbs’ counselor told him that he was outgrowing the service and that there was only so much that could be done in the university sessions. Hobbs feels the sessions served him as a way to speak about his issues out loud, but they didn’t leave him feeling like he walked away with any insight gained. 

He also expressed that while all of the therapists seemed to focus on the overall theme of mental health, none of them focused on some of the more specialized issues he faced. His UCAPS counselor also mentioned in one of the sessions that they didn’t focus on the specific problems Hobbs needed help with and recommended he see someone who was more specialized outside of the university service. 

“I don’t see any reason why we wouldn’t have more specialists,” he said. “Say I was struggling with anxiety, I don’t think they have one person there who really specializes in anxiety.”

Currently, UCAPS has mental-health clinicians, a staff therapist and a psychiatrist who help students with a “goal focused, time-limited, and collaborative approach” to address overall mental health. There are two staff members currently dedicated to serving students with trauma-focused help. 

When asked about the referral process and the range of specialization for the services, a statement sent by DePaul University Communications and attributed to Director of UCAPS Tow Yau stated: “Clinicians are trained to address a broad range of mental health concerns within a brief treatment model. However, UCAPS is not intended to be a long-term care option. When a student’s treatment needs require specialized or longer-term care the student may be referred to a community-based provider.” 

In these kinds of situations, the university statement goes on to say, UCAPS is “often able to provide individualized referrals to meet their specific treatment needs.” 

Hobbs also saw one of the on-staff psychiatrists— who has since left UCAPS— which he said was not effective and only caused his mental health to worsen. 

Hobbs explained that during his first session, he was put on medication that ended up making him feel worse. He couldn’t make a follow-up appointment with the psychiatrist through UCAPS for nearly three weeks.  

“It took me two sessions to actually change medications,” Hobbs said. “After I went back and told her I didn’t love how it made me feel, she was like, ‘Well, keep trying it.’ I came back the next time and was like, ‘No, this actually makes me feel horrible.’” 

In response, DePaul University Communications and Yau said they cannot provide information on specific student situations because of privacy concerns but “continually explore ways to address evolving needs.” 

The statement added that UCAPS sends a brief survey at the end of each quarter to students who use the service. “We strongly encourage students to share their experience with UCAPS via this survey,” the statement read. “The results will inform our ongoing efforts to improve and enhance care.”

The trajectory of DePaul’s mental-health services 

Before UCAPS, DePaul’s previous mental-health service offered to students was called University Counseling Services (UCS). It offered short-term counseling and provided “referrals to community mental health providers when students need or could benefit from longer term or more open-ended psychological or psychiatric services,” according to the website.

Students were able to call UCS and make same-day or next-day appointments after their telephone consultation. A member would talk with each student for about 15 minutes to decide what kind of help was needed. After talking with the help line, students would then have an initial appointment to set up a plan for meeting. 

UCS made it clear that they were operating within a “time-limited” and “brief therapy” environment. They only offered a 20-session maximum throughout the course of a student’s entire undergraduate or graduate degree program. They charged a $5 service fee for each individual counseling session along with $10 for visits regarding medication management. 

UCS was in place at DePaul until Spring 2021. During the COVID-19 pandemic, UCS made the decision to partner with My Student Support Program (SSP), a third-party app that connected students with a 24/7 free mental-health support line. At the time, Yau said the shift in service was the result of UCS undergoing major changes after some employees chose to leave DePaul. 

When a student would first log in to My SSP, they would have to fill out multiple assessments to determine whether they were struggling with anxiety or depression and answer other questions about drug and alcohol intake. Based on this self-evaluation, students would receive a recommendation from My SSP on the treatment they should receive. 

During a time when students were already isolated due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was only one counselor employed at DePaul, who was not accepting new patients at the time. This meant My SSP, the only available option for mental-health support through DePaul, offered students no face-to-face communication.

When DePaul decided to shift to the third-party app, the responsibility of providing students mental-health support began to fall onto faculty members more than ever before.

In November 2021, shortly after UCS decided to partner with My SSP, a DePaul Newsline article was released titled, “Tips for Faculty to Support Students Struggling with their Mental Health.” The piece included suggestions and resources from UCS for how faculty members at DePaul could help support students who are struggling with their mental health. 

Even though faculty members are not mental-health professionals and are unlicensed, Yau mentioned in the Newsline article that “they play an important role as the so-called gatekeepers for students, who often reach out to them first when they’re having problems.”

UCS recommended faculty members “recognize the signs” and “respond with empathy” in situations where a student might be showing excess stress and anxiety. Yau also said staff members can check in on students who show these signs, asking questions like “How’s your family? How’s life? How’s school?”

The second suggestion, other than the regular check-ins, was to refer students to the only operating mental-health service DePaul had at the time, My SSP. The Newsline article also walked professors and staff through the process of how to assist students with downloading the My SSP app and gave UCS as a resource for faculty to consult on how to better support students.  

“For students who need more intensive therapy or treatment – for example, for those struggling with substance abuse, eating disorders or more complex health issues – My SSP or UCS will work with students to refer them to the appropriate care,” the Newsline article said.

DePaul eventually rebranded the counseling service to University Counseling and Psychological Services (UCAPS) in June 2022 and began offering free services to students and with the addition of psychiatric help. Currently, DePaul UCAPS has 11 full-time clinicians and one part-time psychiatrist. The new, rebranded service is still being promoted on the website as helping students short term. Yau explained the sessions are scheduled based on what the counselor believes the needs of the student are. 

“We keep more of a short-term service in our counseling center because we find that many college students are not able to work long term. They tend to have a kind of busy schedule, so the short term is very helpful,” Yau said. “Also, we could not see everyone in terms of long-term services because we have roughly 20,000 students.” 

He also said students are welcome to go through UCAPS again if they wish to, though they would have to fill out the intake form again and could be assigned to a new counselor. 

Although the short-term service is presented as better meeting students’ needs, some students said this limitation of the service has left them feeling unsupported.

University Counseling Licensing Procedures in Illinois 

When Patrick had her first counseling session with UCAPS, the counselor told her they were “in the process” of being licensed. The counselor mentioned someone could be coming in at some point to supervise the in-person session, though according to Patrick’s account of events, no one else came to the session.

Freshman Ella McCoy shared a similar experience, saying her counselor mentioned they were “in the process” of being licensed. McCoy remembers the counselor saying they were waiting on the state to deliver their license in the mail. 

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation is responsible for licensing counselors. After confirming with an IDFPR representative where to look in the database, out of the 11 members on the UCAPS staff page, two members could not be found in the directory. 

According to Yau, “10 full-time clinicians are licensed and one is working toward a license in clinical psychology.” 

He explained that supervision sessions for the unlicensed staff member are held once a week, when a licensed clinician on staff will meet with an unlicensed staff member for about an hour. 

The university statement also said: “In addition, two clinical trainees from the mental health counseling program provide sessions under close clinical supervision from licensed supervisors. During an initial screening, this information is readily shared with students, and they can decide if they would prefer to see a staff member or a clinical trainee.” 

In the state of Illinois, it is required by law to have a license to practice as a university counselor unless in training, and if a counselor is without a license, there are specific requirements in place for supervision. State law also requires any unlicensed counselors or psychologists to explicitly state that they are an “intern” or “resident” who is in need of supervision. 

Currently the UCAPS website uses terminology like “mental health clinician” and “staff therapist” to describe counselors on the staff list. There is no designation as of April 2024 to clarify if a counselor is in training or in the process of being licensed. 

When asked if there is a place on the UCAPS website to designate if a counselor is “in the process” of being licensed, Yau said, “No, however, a clinician’s licensure status and supervisor information is reviewed at the time of initial intake.”

The two clinical trainees are also not listed on the website, according to Yau.

There is also nothing on the UCAPS staff page that specifies who is taking on a supervisor role or overseeing training. Northwestern University’s website highlights a “Director of Supervision” and “Clinical Training Directors” who help oversee the staff member supervision process. UIC similarly has an Associate Director for Training who helps supervise staff, postdoctoral fellows, and doctoral interns and externs. 

The Illinois law governing professional counselors states: “the student, intern, or resident is designated by a title ‘intern’ or ‘resident’ or other designation of trainee status.” The law also states, “these activities constitute a part of the student’s supervised course of study and the activities and services are not conducted in an independent practice.”  

DePaul Problem or a Higher-Education Problem? 

DePaul is not the only university in the Chicago area whose mental-health services have been under scrutiny by students for offering a brief therapy model, but DePaul has a lower ratio of staff to students than some of the other private universities. 

At Loyola University of Chicago, 16,899 students were enrolled as of 2022. There are 54 staff members at the school’s Wellness Center, which serves as a clinic for students’ physical health and also includes mental-health services. For the mental-health services alone, there are nine social workers, four psychologists, nine counselors and a therapy dog. Students are able to contact a Mental Health Professional (MPH) through a 30-minute phone consultation which can be scheduled online or over the phone. 

Northwestern maintains a similar enrollment to DePaul, with 22,732 students, but Northwestern lists more than triple the number of staff on its counseling and psychological services webpage with 38 members. The staff split their service between the Evanston and Chicago offices.

DePaul UCAPS has a counseling office in the Loop campus located in the Law building’s first floor.* However, the service does not have its own website, and there is no designation for staff members based on location. There is only one option for a Loop campus support group titled “Understanding Ourselves & Others” that shows up on the intake form, with the rest of the group sessions located online or on the Lincoln Park Campus.  

In response to questions about what services are offered in the Loop versus Lincoln Park, and if there is a different set of counselors for the second campus, DePaul shared the following from Yau: “Services on the Loop campus are similar to those on Lincoln Park. Some clinicians have office hours on both campuses.”

According to the International Accreditation of Counseling Services, efforts should be made to “maintain minimum staffing ratios in the range of one professional staff member (excluding trainees) to every 1,000 to 1,500 students.” Yau said UCAPS currently has one professional staff member to every 2,000 students and that the university hopes to one day match the standard of other universities. 

Like UCAPS, Loyola’s Wellness Center and Northwestern’s CAPS service are currently pitched as providing only short-term care for students. The Loyola Wellness Center website states, “the Wellness Center utilizes a brief treatment model for medical and mental health care.” Northwestern’s counseling center similarly only offers short-term individual counseling and group therapy for students.

Even with the short-term setup, however, Loyola and Northwestern have the recommended staffing ratio for counselors to consistently see students based on their needs and provide adequate referral. Even with the brief therapy model, Northwestern’s CAPS service says on their website that they don’t have a session limit, with an emphasis on the number of sessions that any student receives based on meeting the student’s needs.  

When McCoy used UCAPS in Autumn 2023, she felt there was not enough attention to detail or a level of personalization in the sessions. After having seven total meetings with her counselor, she expressed there was not enough acknowledgement of the way she was feeling or many solutions presented. 

After sharing that she had experience with religious trauma, her counselor’s recommendation was to see a Catholic group on campus. This left McCoy feeling misunderstood and as if she was not being properly heard in the sessions.

“I’m sure she has a difficult job and sees a lot of students,” McCoy said. “But I felt she was never taking the time to understand what I was trying to convey.”

Other students like Patrick have been left feeling disheartened after DePaul counseling was not there for her when she needed resources to continue seeking professional help on her own. 

“I haven’t seen anyone since my last meeting with my counselor, which is a little sad because I do think it’s important to maintain these sessions,” she said. “But because I don’t have that referral I just don’t have a lot of information of where to turn to now.”

*Correction: The Loop counseling office is located on the Law building’s first floor. The article originally misstated the floor of the office location.

This article has been updated to reflect additional information from UCAPS.

Header by Sophia Johnson