What do students think of Warwick’s mental health services?

CAPS stands for Counselling and Psychotherapy Services, and it is the free mental health support service offered to all Warwick students, whether undergraduate or postgraduate. Given the importance of effective mental health support in an intense and often stressful university environment, feedback from users of CAPS is vital for improving students’ experiences with the service, and by extension their mental well-being.

Speaking to students about their experience with CAPS has revealed where it is effective in its intended purpose of helping users overcome the challenges they face, as well as where the service could do with improvements.

Sessions would “often be pushed back to [once every] 3 or 4 weeks” from an initial frequency of once every 2 weeks

Whilst the university’s official website states that “appointments are usually spaced every 2 to 3 weeks”, the reality can be quite different. As one student told me, “I thought it would be more regular, maybe like once bi-weekly, but it was once every six weeks.” Adding that she “would discuss something that was relevant that month and then it would be a completely different story another”.

This sentiment was echoed by another student I spoke to, who has since graduated. She told me that sessions would “often be pushed back to [once every] 3 or 4 weeks” from an initial frequency of once every 2 weeks. Reflecting on how this affected her experience with CAPS, she noted that “this instability was unhelpful, especially for a person who felt like everything was spiralling”.

On a more positive note, everyone I spoke to highlighted their therapist’s friendly demeanour. “The woman who conducted my sessions was really nice”, said one student. “Sometimes we didn’t even talk about the things that were bothering me, we’d talk about favourite shows or her family, stuff like that. She laughed at my jokes after session 2 or 3 which made me much more comfortable talking to her”.

Another user I spoke to said that her “therapist was a lovely person, very down to earth and easily approachable”.

Similarly, another user I spoke to said that her “therapist was a lovely person, very down to earth and easily approachable”, and a third student described her therapist again as a “very lovely person” and “very soft spoken”.

However, when it came to the tangible gains made by users of CAPS, the feedback was more mixed. One student thought that it did benefit them to talk about how they were feeling, but “it didn’t help [them] with managing/ overcoming the real reason [they were] there”. This student also suggested that “more time and care should be taken into matching the available therapists to students”, as they did not think the therapist’s specialties were suited to dealing with their issues.

Another student I asked said that, being a Psychology student, “most of the guidance offered was things that I already knew, so it all felt a little formulaic and scripted”, adding that the gains made from therapy were hindered by the fact she needed help the most between terms, when she couldn’t come in for an in-person session.

Warwick offers in-person and online therapy, and the students I spoke to had experienced a combination of both. However, switching between services during and outside of term times is not an option explicitly advertised on the Warwick Wellbeing and Student Support Website.

“If it is not feasible to access paid mental health services, the Warwick mental health support could be a beneficial placeholder”.

– Anonymous graduate

When asked about whether they would recommend therapy at Warwick, the vast majority of the students I spoke to responded positively. Another recent graduate I spoke to said that they would “recommend the wellbeing services if there is no other option, mostly because it is free”, adding that “paid therapy would be more beneficial but if it is not feasible to access paid mental health services, the Warwick mental health support could be a beneficial placeholder”.

On the matter of Warwick services being free of charge, a student I spoke to noted that she had done NHS therapy since graduating, and it was significantly less helpful than the counselling at Warwick; “The NHS one was over the phone which really didn’t suit me”. Thus, she concluded that “there is no reason not to ask for help if you need help”.