BYU Counseling and Psychological Services is offering resources to students, teaching them how to tackle various mental health concerns through Quicker Care workshops.
At these workshops, experienced clinicians teach strategies, techniques and resources to inform students on how to address mental health concerns, such as anxiety, relationship health, depression and perfectionism, according to CAPS. Students do not need to register to attend.
Phillip Rash, chair of the Outreach Council at CAPS, will be teaching a perfectionism workshop on Oct. 22 and an anxiety and finals prep workshop on Dec. 4. He said each workshop is taught differently based on the presenter and is designed to give students take-home strategies to tackle mental health issues.
“A lot of students just say they wish they had some place to go to learn a couple quick things that might help them and maybe investigate if they want therapy or not,” Rash said.
Rash said the Quicker Care workshops are meant to offer simple, preventative strategies for BYU students.
“Not everybody wants to do therapy, and not everybody needs to do therapy. Sometimes, students are just looking for some strategies that they can implement on their own, maybe while they're waiting to go to therapy,” Rash said. “Something to help alleviate the concerns that they're having and to give them some very practical things that they could do to help improve their situation.”
Brodrick Brown, a BYU CAPS clinical psychologist and assistant clinical professor, will be teaching an anxiety workshop on Oct. 16 and a perfectionism workshop on Nov. 8. He said these workshops are hosted on a regular basis to teach students about major mental health issues at BYU and across the nation.
His workshop on anxiety will present how students can notice anxiety, tools to approach those feelings and possibly a mindfulness activity to help calm the body and decrease stress. He recommended students schedule breaks to participate in enjoyable activities if they are experiencing anxiety.
Brown said these workshops allow CAPS to reach a wider population and remind students that CAPS does offer some immediate services despite having a long waitlist for individual therapy appointments.
“I love individual therapy,” Brown said, “but there's also things that we can do to give a big group of people some things to work on that can be helpful to them today.”
While these workshops can assist in educating students on tackling mental health issues, workshops are not professional therapy nor treatment, according to CAPS.
Lesli Allen, a therapist at CAPS, held one of her Quicker Care workshops on Thursday, Oct. 3 about overcoming feelings of depression. She presented the symptoms of depression, common responses to depression and strategies to handle depression.
“The tendency is to escape from uncomfortable feelings,” Allen said. “The tendency is to get really busy, so we don't have to deal with uncomfortable things.”
She recommended students struggling with depression to schedule positive, meaningful activities each day, say kind words and affirmations to themselves, connect with others, build a network of others to talk to in a crisis, sleep 7-9 hours each night and eat three meals each day.
“Developing a compassionate self is not easy,” Allen said. “We also have compassion-focused therapy groups and a compassionate living class that you can register for and take, and those would be helpful. But outside of that, learning to be kind to yourself and taking kindness breaks.”
Students can download the app WellTrack Boost for mental health education and activities, Allen said. Students have free access to the app’s features by registering with their BYU Net ID. The app could be useful for students not currently in therapy or who may need help at any time.
Allen also emphasized students should seek help and come to the CAPS office as soon as possible if a student is having suicidal thoughts.
“People often say, ‘Well, I can't get any CAPS because there's a waiting list.’ There is never a waiting list for a crisis,” Allen said. “If you are feeling like you cannot keep yourself safe, you will be seen within the hour that you come in.”
Allen said students experiencing a crisis after the CAPS office has closed can call 801-422-3035 and follow the prompts on the call to access services after-hours. There will always be a person to speak to no matter what time it is. She also recommended calling the national suicide hotline at 988.
“I hope that, if you are dealing with depression, that you believe that it is worth getting help and that you don't need to wait until you are highly suicidal to get that help,” Allen said. “Just having some suspicion that something might be wrong is enough to come in and get some help and counseling.”
Upcoming Quicker Care workshops for Fall Semester 2024 can be found below and on the BYU CAPS website.
Anxiety:
- Wednesday, Oct. 16 at noon with Dr. Brodrick Brown in 3238 WSC
- Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 3 p.m. with Dr. Jon Cox in 3215 WSC
- Thursday, Nov. 21 at 2 p.m. with Dr. Lesli Allen in 3215 WSC
- Wednesday, Dec. 4 at noon with Dr. Phillip Rash in 3215 WSC (Anxiety & Finals Prep)
Relationship Health:
- Thursday, Oct. 10 at 3 p.m. with Dr. Derek Holyoak in 5520 WSC
- Friday, Oct. 25 at 2 p.m. with Dr. Derek Holyoak in 3215 WSC
Depression:
- Wednesday, Oct. 30 at 1 p.m. with Camryn Sutton in 3215 WSC
- Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 3 p.m. with Denny Putra in 3215 WSC
Perfectionism:
- Tuesday, Oct. 22 at 3 p.m. with Dr. Phillip Rash in 3215 WSC
- Friday, Nov. 8 at noon with Dr. Brodrick Brown in 5520 WSC
CAPS also offers individual and group therapy, one-time quick care consultations, mental health classes, other workshops and suicide prevention trainings, according to CAPS.
The waitlist for fall and winter semester services may be around four weeks, but CAPS encouraged students to call 801-422-3035 for further information about waitlists and how to join a waitlist. Allen recommended signing up for quick care consultations or crisis appointments if a student needs psychological help as soon as possible.
The BYU CAPS office is located in room 1500 of the Wilkinson Student Center. It is open from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.