Florida International University: Counseling Psychological Services Center - Miami, Florida

BB J

CAPS is the last place you want to go to if you're in need of help. Many people are misled by the posters advertising it on campus. They are actually very limited in what they can do and my visit left me feeling worse than better. Also, it's interesting that the most recent 5 star review came from a counseling grad student. Hm. Anyway, "Go to CAPS!" is definitely not "one size fits all" advice. I would actually advise against it due to how dismissive, uncaring, and discouraging they are. For the sake of your mental health, it's better to look for help from someplace that actually cares about your safety and well-being.

Lucia Mejia

CAPs has helped me in my lowest lows. I had to try out several therapists to get to the one that worked best with me and my needs so don't be discouraged! They offer great group therapies like trauma work and great individual therapists.

Fischl Chan

I do not recommend CAPS to any student suffering from mental health concerns. Although the flyers you see on campus advertising CAPS claim that they treat a wide range of mental health concerns, CAPS is in fact not equipped for most of them. CAPS only offers a limited amount of help for mild issues that can be resolved in 1 or at most 2 sessions, which sadly, does not cover most mental health issues, aside from maybe minor occurrences of temporary stress.

If you suspect you have an ongoing condition, such as depression, anxiety, grief, etc. they will treat you condescendingly and brush you off as being "too crazy" and "beyond help." Nobody should ever be made to feel that way by so-called "mental health professionals." I left CAPS feeling much worse than I did before, because I was deemed "too unstable" for them to handle (even though I was not violent towards myself or others and was just seeking help for depression).

I was not given any resources for where to turn to instead, but one thing for certain is that I will be avoiding CAPS from now on. I can genuinely say it was a traumatic experience. FIU needs to do better when it comes to helping out their students with mental health concerns.

Sarah Catherine

CAPS is terrible. I want to find a way to share more about my experiences at CAPS with other students, because there needs to be changes. I keep brushing off my experiences, but they've consistently been negative and I feel it needs to be talked about. I've heard multiple other students have extremely negative experiences with CAPs besides me and I don't understand why these issues are not being discussed and addressed. At one point I was treated rudely and condescendingly when I came in for an emergency appointment because I was struggling with immediate and pressing suicidal thoughts. This was after initially being denied an appointment, period, even though I came in early in the day (11AM) because all appointments were filled for that day. I was only even seen because I began crying and asking what the purpose of CAPs is if there is no system/no one on call for emergency situations when a student is reaching out because they feel they will harm themselves that day and need immediate help. This was at the BBC campus. Because of this they pulled a counselor aside to speak to me before my appointment. She was extremely rude and accusatory to me, repeatedly saying "You said you needed to talk. So talk." While I was crying and having problems articulating why I was there and why I was having suicidal thoughts. I left crying and later harmed myself. At main campus I attempted to make another appointment, which also went badly. After filling out paperwork and sitting and getting assessed, all the counselor could tell me was "go to these referrals." When I told her that I would also like to take advantage of the counseling services we're offered at CAPS in the meantime, she essentially just told me no, because she thought it would be counter-productive as they only offer short-term counseling. While I understand her concerns, these resources are available to everyone and I don’t think it was okay to just flat-out be denied access to the services here because my issues were considered “to great.” At this point I honestly asked her: What is the purpose of CAPS? I could have looked on the internet and found referrals myself. I don't currently have a car or the resources to go to another center, as well as having a great deal of anxiety about counseling, period. CAPS is supposed to be a resource to help students. Yet every time I go there and actually find the courage to speak up for my questions and needs, I feel spoken down to or even flat out ignored. CAPS doesn't put students first. They are cold, but to call them cold and clinical wouldn't even be completely accurate - clinical denotes a level of professionalism that I sadly haven't seen.

Manuel Stoilov

I finished a semester of group therapy and the experience was very rewarding. Furthermore, the staff were very friendly, accommodating, and professional. Some parts that could be improved a bit are: Having a larger space to walk into (feels cramped); Counselors taking more time to connect and using the computer less during session (which is hard given the fact that documentation is now digital). Overall, I recommend it to anyone.

Lizzy W

I have been dealing with depression and anxiety for a while. I am very grateful to CAPS for doing their best to help me. Even tho they don’t have a lot of counselors rn they connected me with a psychiatrist and I feel much better.

Samuel Daylor

I have been in graduate school at FIU for two years and CAPS has consistently been amazing. Remember that people will generally go out of their way to write a bad review vs. a good one.

Adriana

they actually don’t care if people are struggling. they don’t take mental health seriously, all they do is basically tell you to go look for help elsewhere because they can’t do anything. they won’t even give out medication unless you’re actively being seen on campus. they make appointments weeks out and don’t have enough staff. literally the absolute worst experience i’ve ever had.