General Description of CAPS
Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) is a department of Student Life, a major division of BYU, devoted to the direction of student affairs and coordination of services to individual students. In addition to CAPS, Student Life includes and administers BYU's student health center, the student activities center, student government, housing, BYU police, student auxiliary services, and multicultural and international student affairs. The role of CAPS in Student Life is to provide counseling, advisement instruction, and support services that promote the balanced development of BYU students.
Psychologists and psychology interns at CAPS are expected to adhere to the Ethical Standards and Code of Conduct of the American Psychological Association (APA) in respecting the dignity and worth of individuals, regardless of the nature of their difficulties; gender, age; ethnic, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, ability status, or religious background. This commitment to APA ethical standards includes protecting the confidentiality of psychologist communications with clients.
Counseling Services
CAPS offers a wide variety of services that address the diverse challenges students face in a university environment, which may include personal, emotional, academic or career concerns. Interns are required to participate in many of these services and are encouraged or may negotiate to participate in others. Services and activities offered at CAPS include:
Personal Counseling and Psychotherapy
Counseling/personal therapy is available to students with concerns such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, OCD, trauma/PTSD, interpersonal conflict, couple problems, perfectionism, self-esteem, social relationships, and stress management. All of these services, consistent with the highest standards of professional psychology, are provided in a confidential manner.
Couples Counseling
Counseling is available to meet the needs of married/dating BYU student couples. Couples are served through individual and group counseling. Approximately 10 percent of CAPS' counseling cases are couples.
Group Counseling and Psychotherapy
CAPS typically offers over 25 groups a semester. A wide range of groups, both structured and unstructured, are offered and are frequently seen as the treatment of choice for students. In addition to open therapy groups, topical groups offered by CAPS have included: trauma recovery & empowerment, couples, chronic pain, mindfulness, meditation, compassion-focused therapy groups, anxiety disorders, OCD, eating disorders, autism spectrum, and interpersonal relationships. Click here for a listing of our groups.
Crisis Intervention and Consultation
CAPS provides walk-in crisis hours each day of the week (Monday-Friday) from 8:00am to 4:15pm (depending on counselor availability). In addition, a 24-hour emergency counseling and consultation service for crisis situations in the BYU community is provided through CAPS by calling 801-422-3035 and following the recorded instructions.
Career Counseling
Career counseling is available to help students explore their academic majors, career options, and long-term career development. Interest inventories, a computerized program for career exploration, and other career assessment tests are available to assist students in making academic and future career decisions.
Academic Counseling
Available for students experiencing difficulty with their studies, this counseling includes help in working through and overcoming obstacles to successful academic performance.
University Advisement Center
This service offers assistance to students who have not declared a major. It also provides advisement in selecting classes, meeting general education requirements, and declaring or changing majors.
University Career Services
These services include: individual help for students searching for employment; how to write a stellar cover letter and resume; on-campus interviews with employer recruiters; listings of specific job opportunities; and, information on companies and organizations that recruit BYU graduates.
Teaching Opportunities of Credit Courses
CAPS credit courses promote academic, career, and personal development. Credit courses are taught under the title of Student Development (STDEV). Interns are invited to participate as instructors in the following courses:
- STDEV 109 Effective Study and Learning
- STDEV 140 Life Planning and Decision Making
- STDEV 117 Career and University Exploration
- STDEV 141R Individual Development (Positive Living, Applied Positive Psychology)
- STDEV 317 Career Strategies
- STDEV 358R Student Leadership Development (Rotation in Residence Life)
The Faculty
- 29 With earned Doctorates in their Degrees
- 27 Licensed Psychologists
- 2 Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists
Also, assisting in our internship are four Ph.D.s who specialize in different training areas of our internship program.
In addition to their professional credentials, 29 of the CAPS faculty hold faculty rank with the University, reflective of their involvement in teaching undergraduate or graduate courses for various academic departments, or conducting/supervising research for academic departments, such as Psychology and Counseling and Special Education. Click here for a list of the CAPS faculty, showing their credentials and areas of interest.
CAPS clinical faculty and counselors subscribe to a variety of theoretical orientations and therapeutic styles, spanning behavioral, rational-emotive behavioral, cognitive, existential, experiential, emotionally-focused, gestalt, interpersonal, compassion-focused, and psychodynamic models -- all are readily accessible to interns.
Facilities
CAPS is located in a facility specifically designed for counseling programs. These facilities include video equipment and a counseling library. Exceptional computer capabilities highlight our facilities. All faculty, staff, and interns have desktop personal computers using a Windows environment that operate as individual workstations and with a network file server (providing web services, university libraries, interoffice mail, record keeping, scheduling, access to university networks and main frame computers, etc.). CAPS' computer facilities include word processing; desktop publishing; spread sheet; and graphics and statistical programs, including Quattro-Pro, SPSS/PC+, SPSS for Windows, and SAS. Assessment and testing services are greatly facilitated because of the CAPS' computer resources. Paper-and-pencil psychological tests can be optically scanned and computer scored. Current psychological assessment software include test scoring and interactive interview programs. Software products include:
- NCS scoring and interpretation programs for the MMPI-2-RF, MCMI, MCMI-II, MCMI-III, Campbell Interest and Skill Survey, Strong Interest Inventory, Rorschach Workshops, and Rorschach Interpretation Assistance Program (RIAP3), and SC10.
- Scoring programs for the MMPI-2-RF, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Edwards Personal Preference Schedule, California Psychological Inventory (Revised Edition), Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery, California Verbal Learning Test, and Woodcock-Johnson Psychoeducational Battery Revised.
Clientele
Clients served by CAPS are undergraduate and graduate students whose concerns vary from acute situational stress through the full range of psychopathology. CAPS also assists students with academic and career development concerns. BYU students come from every U.S. state and territory and more than 50 foreign countries. Among BYU students, 15% are minorities and 5% are international students. Furthermore, nearly 70% of BYU students speak a second language. The majority are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often known as Mormons. Students from diverse cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds use CAPS services and present with a variety of problems and diagnoses. Non-traditional students and married couples are also served at CAPS.
Psychologists and psychology interns at CAPS are expected to adhere to the Ethical Standards and Code of Conduct of the American Psychological Association (APA) in respecting the dignity and worth of individuals, regardless of the nature of their difficulties; gender; age; ethnic, cultural, or religious background; or their sexual orientation. This commitment to APA ethical standards includes protecting the confidentiality of psychologist communications with clients.