Outreach and Education

do something … with prevention and education

Prevention and education allows for CAPS staff to connect, educate and intervene with the larger UM community and ultimately strengthen our “community of caring.” Through prevention and education, CAPS is able to reach numerous students, from those who are interested in learning more about college student mental health and may benefit from gaining information about the variety of services CAPS has to offer, to those who may want to know more about how to help a friend, to reaching out to those students who may experience too much stigma to actually feel comfortable seeking therapy. CAPS creates a “web of support” not only for students, but also encourages staff and faculty involvement through a variety of education and prevention efforts.

Providing education and prevention to university students, faculty and staff is often called “outreach”. Outreach is a broad term and includes facilitating workshops (e.g., stress management, introduction to mental health services, how to help someone in distress), forming liaison relationships with units and departments focused on student needs, consulting between faculty, staff, parents and concerned students about a student who may be in distress, and being present at numerous events (e.g., Festifall, Winterfest, GayzCraze). CAPS would like to highlight one of our exciting major outreach initiatives called do something.

Please view our events to learn about some of the available workshops.

CAPS Programs

do something is a large scale college student mental health awareness campaign implemented during the fall of 2007. It focuses on learning more about college student mental health and ways in which all of us can help ourselves as well as each other in a variety of ways. For example, do something highlights:

QPR, a well-received, on-going, suicide prevention training program started in 2006;
, an interactive, multimedia mental health website created exclusively for U-M students
general CAPS prevention and education efforts such as liaison building, providing workshops and consulting with concerned faculty, staff, parents and students.

do something … with college student mental health

We are challenging all of us to be an active part of the University of Michigan’s community of caring. do something. is an umbrella campaign focused on increasing college student mental health awareness. Learning about how UM students are affected is one way of doing something, but doing something can also include seeking QPR training, taking action, listening, sharing, referring, helping, and visiting www.mitalk.org and www.umich.edu/~caps to find out more about mental health.

According to the College Student Mental Health Survey, did you know that:

17.5% of U-M students think about suicide to some degree
76.7% of U-M students experience mild to severe difficulty staying motivated for classes
61.3% of U-M students sometimes feel isolated and alone
62.7% of U-M students experience mild to severe sleep difficulties

Given this information, chances are you know someone who needs help.

As a part of a community of caring you CAN help other students who are showing signs of distress by gaining the skills needed to help effectively. Even if you don’t know exactly what to do, you can still be helpful. We invite you to take a look at the following lists and learn how you can do something.

Top 10 List for Students

do something … with

MiTalk (pronounced “My Talk”) is a website created specifically for students at the University of Michigan; it doesn’t matter what your major is; whether you are a graduate or undergraduate; or attend U-M Flint or Dearborn. On this site, students will find a number of resources such as online screenings for depression and anxiety, to skill-building tools for stress management and academic skills, as well as digitally recorded lectures, events and workshops. Also for those students who are interested you will be able to view and download two-minute exercise videos on yoga, progressive muscle relaxation and guided meditation. To explore MiTalk further go to www.mitalk.org

do something … submit a workshop request

Common topics include:

CAPS 101 – overview of CAPS services
How to help a friend
Stress management
Time management
Cross-cultural adjustment
Procrastination

If you are interested in having CAPS table an event or facilitate a workshop for your group, please complete and submit the online workshop request form. During the academic year, we do receive a large number of requests. Therefore, please contact us AT LEAST 3 WEEKS PRIOR TO YOUR EVENT DATE. If it is not possible to meet your request due to time or other constraints, or if your request may be better filled by another office, we will help you identify alternative options.