Staff Excellence: Counseling and Psychological Services

Purdue University strives to cultivate a community of care; destigmatize the conversation surrounding mental health; and educate faculty, staff and students on the importance of mental health awareness. Achieving that mission wouldn’t be possible without the transformative efforts of Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) employees, whose work helps students maximize the value of their life experiences on and off campus.

Led by Christopher Hanes, this interdisciplinary team was built to support Boilermakers through any type of situation, from anxiety, depression and academic struggles to eating issues, alcohol use and relationship concerns. CAPS’ nearly 50 staff members are united in their passion for students, and their wide-ranging backgrounds and areas of expertise allow them to offer inclusive, specialized care to anybody who needs it. It’s all part of CAPS’ stepped care model, an approach that aims to provide beneficial resources and services to as many individuals as possible with services offered on the same day, next day for any student wanting support.

These mental health counselors, social workers, marriage and family therapists, psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, registered nurses and support staff members helped CAPS facilitate more than 20,000 student appointments in 2023-24, serving nearly 3,500 total students.

“It’s exciting to be in a place with such an impressive team of dedicated and passionate individuals who want to have an impact, and I think when you have a team of passionate people who are just absolutely dedicated to their work, it can create something pretty impressive,” Hanes says. “CAPS has definitely grown since I’ve been here. It’s been a team effort, and it’s been exciting to be in that space.”

CAPS’ past three years have been characterized by increased staffing, new services and expanded campus-based prevention programming and partnerships, heightening the flexibility, accessibility and awareness of mental health resources available to students. Last fall, CAPS partnered with Purdue University Online to begin offering Uwill, a teletherapy service that facilitates immediate appointments with licensed mental health counselors.

Meanwhile, new group therapy options, self-enrolled workshops, Therapy Assistance Online (TAO), and Let’s Talk drop-in sessions have provided additional counseling opportunities for students on the West Lafayette campus. Additionally, CAPS will be providing in-person services to students in Indianapolis with two new staff positions dedicated to serving students at this location.

The past year also marked CAPS’ new role in overseeing all campus mental health programs and services, including peer to peer support initiatives and suicide prevention programming. As part of this initiative, CAPS offers QPR Gatekeeper trainings, sessions designed to help campus community members better understand suicide prevention strategies and hosts an annual suicide prevention program called Field of Memories, focused on promoting help-seeking and awareness of resources on campus. 

Every single improvement has been carefully crafted to enhance the accessibility, variety and awareness of mental health services available to Purdue’s growing student population.

“Over the past year, we’ve doubled the number of students we’ve interacted with on campus, which has proactively helped connect students to care as needed, while also giving them the tools to navigate challenges before they need to connect with us,” Hanes says. “We’re being proactive and preventative.”

That student-centered mindset has also sparked new creative approaches, including the CAPS Ambassadors Program launching this fall. The initiative is designed to foster two-way communication between CAPS and student ambassadors, whose priority is spreading awareness about the university’s mental health resources and encouraging help-seeking among their peers.

“I feel like it’s getting to a point where we’re seeing the impact and seeing students connected to care,” Hanes says. “It’s not just meeting with Chris the psychologist; it has to be big, it has to be a community and it has to be a culture. We’re promoting and supporting a community of care on campus.”

Luckily, CAPS staff have a knack for sharing their message far and wide. Last year, they provided over 640 hours of presentations, campus-based consultations and debriefings that reached more than 26,000 students, faculty and staff. Even through all of CAPS’ recent growth and innovation, this team of college mental health experts has maintained its commitment to providing same-day, next-day access to any student seeking services.

They understand the unique challenges that college students face, and they’re more than prepared to fulfill Boilermakers’ continuum of needs. Through consultation, teamwork and partnerships, these mental health professionals work hard each day to create a campus environment that elevates students’ personal and academic development. And yet, Hanes and his staff continue to raise the bar, never letting the opportunity for positive change pass them by.

“The team has done amazing work,” Hanes says. “And what we’ve also done is say, ‘What next?’”