Counseling & Psychological Services

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Off Campus Care

Sometimes seeking therapy or medication services off campus (i.e. with a provider who is not from CAPS or UCSC Psychiatry) is your best option to address a particular concern or meet your individual needs. If CAPS has recommended off-campus services or you are looking into them on your own, the information on this page can help. One way to find off-campus therapy referrals is to use our searchable database of local therapists who have expressed an interest in working with UCSC students. You do not need to log in to search for care. Just fill in the location, setting or speciality you are interested in. 

Reasons to seek off-campus therapy or psychiatry
Off-campus therapy provides several advantages over therapy on campus through CAPS:

  • Off campus, you may be able to see a therapist on evenings or weekends, which is not typically possible on campus.
  • You typically have more flexibility to see a therapist for as long as you need or want. This is particularly beneficial when you have longstanding, complex, or more severe issues (e.g., ongoing depression, trauma, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, psychosis, complicated family history, drug and alcohol addiction)—you may find that you can make more progress on such issues when you are able to continue in therapy for longer than is usually possible on campus.

Psychiatry

  • If no UCSC psychiatry appointments are immediately available
  • You have an established relationship with an off-campus clinician
  • You have Kaiser insurance, which requires that all psychiatry appointments, lab work, and prescriptions take place at a Kaiser facility
  • You have a serious issue that is best treated at an off-campus facility

Off-campus care with UC SHIP

Students enrolled in UC SHIP need a referral form from CAPS or the Student Health Center. You’ll need to bring this form to your first appointment with the off-campus clinician.

Once CAPS or the Student Health Center has created the referral, you can retrieve the form through Health e-Messenger, our secure online messaging system:

  1. Log in with your CruzID and gold password
  2. Go to the “Referrals” section
  3. Download and print a PDF copy of the referral form

When using UC SHIP insurance, there is no copay for psychiatry appointments. However, there may be additional charges for any required lab work or prescriptions. Your out-of-pocket cost per therapy session or psychiatry appointment (no copay) is $0. There is no maximum number of sessions, and you do not need to meet a deductible for UC SHIP to pay for these services.

If you are using SHIP to pay for ongoing off-campus services, you’ll need to get a new referral form at the start of fall quarter to continue using SHIP to pay for these services, as the previous year’s form will expire. In most cases, you don’t need an appointment at CAPS to renew your UC SHIP referral form–just call us and we can update the form for the new academic year.

How to find off-campus care

Use our searchable database or, CAPS staff can also assist you with off-campus referrals and help you connect with providers. To schedule a brief initial appointment for assessment and guidance, call us at (831) 459-2628.

Students who have an insurance plan other than UC SHIP should contact their insurance company to ask what their plan covers. For students with Kaiser insurance, note that Kaiser only pays for services at one of its own facilities. There are Kaiser locations in downtown Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley, Watsonville, Santa Clara, San Jose, and Campbell, although mental health services may be limited at some of these locations. Students with Medi-Cal coverage in Santa Cruz County can call Beacon Health Strategies to get local therapy referrals. There are also several low-fee options for counseling in the Santa Cruz area. CAPS can tell you about these options.

Resources

Last modified: Sep 22, 2025