Can you live a healthy, balanced life at UMass Amherst? Absolutely! But that doesn't mean it's always easy.
Center for Counseling and Psychological Health (CCPH) can help. We understand what you’re going through, because caring for the university community is our specialty.
Our Mission
The mission of CCPH is to foster the psychological development, emotional wellbeing and personal success of our student body informed by our core values of connection, resilience, and social justice. We provide compassionate mental health care, including consultation, short-term treatment and crisis intervention, and prevention services, collaborate with partners on and off campus, and offer professional training to current and future generations of mental health professionals. In line with our core values, we strive to support the development of a just, diverse, and inclusive environment within CCPH and the larger campus community.
What we do
Confidential services include crisis intervention, short-term psychotherapy for individuals, couples and families, support and therapy groups, psychological assessment, behavioral medicine, psychiatric services and eating disorders consultations.
Our staff also provides consultation and education for the campus and surrounding communities. CCPH's suicide prevention experts offer free trainings for the campus community.
CCPH's Frequently Asked Questions for Parents can help families assist their student.
Find out more about our programs and services; you can also check out these recommended links.
Our short-term model
Length of therapy varies, with a primary focus on short-term treatment directed at helping students function in a university environment. You and your clinician will determine the best approach for you.
CCPH does not have the capacity to manage chronic conditions requiring intensive or frequent contacts. After an initial consultation, we may refer a student to more appropriate services in the community if the consultation reveals that the student's needs exceed what our short-term model and staff specialty/expertise would fit.
Common examples of issues that may suggest referral for services in the community include:
- issues of long standing or major mental illness which requires long-term or continuous treatment,
- issues that require a student to need to be seen once per week over time,
- students who are judged to be at high risk of harming self or others (and thus need more support and care than the center can provide),
- student issues which require a type of therapy or approach not within the practice scope of the current staff,
- student issues which suggest they may get significantly worse in short-term psychotherapy or are too fragile for short-term psychotherapy.