Oregon State University prides itself on its mental health services for students.
Every term, students are charged a mandatory fee — $252.56 for the 2026-2027 school year — to pay for physical and mental health services.
This fee contributes to several facets of OSU’s health services, including the Counseling and Psychological Service (CAPS) Center located on the fifth floor of Snell Hall.
The office is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., CAPS holds “drop-in” hours for urgent care and crisis support. Students can walk at any time during these hours to speak with a counselor. There are suspected wait times for counselor availability during busier seasons.
Unfortunately, students have experienced some shortcomings while trying to take advantage of the drop-in hours.
One current OSU student, who is to remain anonymous, shares an experience they had while trying to utilize the drop-in hours during a time of great need over email.
During a long battle with depression and lack of medication due to extenuating circumstances, this student battled with “loud suicidal ideation” during the winter term of their first year.
In hope of getting some kind of help — whether that be medication referral or just someone to talk to — this student decided to use the CAPS drop-in hours.
Once they made it to Snell Hall, the student had to fill out a Risk Assessment Questionnaire. One of the questions asked if the student had thoughts of hurting themselves or others, in which they intended to act on.
“I answered no, but took the time to very clearly underline in pen the “that you intend to act on” sentence, hoping someone would catch on,” the student wrote.
This went unaddressed by personnel at the CAPS center to the students’ knowledge.
After waiting 45 minutes, the student was able to see a counselor and air out their grievances.
Unsure of where else to turn, they asked for guidance in getting an OSU Health Center appointment that wasn’t months away, as many of the health-related resource openings were.
“The woman seated across from me looked at me and laughed. She asked me why I would even think they could do anything like that. ‘We aren’t even in the same building!’ she exclaimed,” the student wrote.
The earliest open health appointment was a week from this day.
“ …I was essentially in a near-constant state of mental health crisis and just trying to get through the day, so about a week out felt eternal,” the student wrote.
The next, and last, question the counselor asked the student was, “Are you going to hurt yourself?”
“‘Not…in any way that would cause permanent damage,’” the student recounted saying.
“the underlying, clear answer under which was yes. Not ‘No, I’m not going to hurt myself,’ but very clearly and distinctly ‘Not in any way that would cause permanent damage.’ Anyone with any semblance of mental health training should have been able to pick up on what I was insinuating,” the student wrote.
Despite this insinuation, the student did not receive further comment from the counselor; rather, they were told how to navigate their way out of the building.
“At the absolute lowest I have ever been in my entire life, I reached out to the people who claimed they were there to help, only to get laughed at and then dismissed when I insinuated I was going to hurt myself,” the student wrote.
Since this experience using the CAPS drop-in hours, this student described feeling “uncomfortable” seeing OSU advertise its care for students’ mental health.
“It just felt like the school only cared about my safety so long as I wasn’t a liability,” the student wrote.
It is important to note that the available counselors during drop-in hours are on rotation. Meaning, it is unlikely that a student will see the same counselor twice via drop-in.
While many other students have experienced shortcomings and hardships when utilizing this campus resource, it has positively affected the lives of others.
OSU alumni, Sprout Mahoney, a crop and soil science 2025 graduate, shares their experience using the drop-in hours during the Fall 2024 term.
During this time, Mahoney was having some trouble in one of their classes regarding a professor. That combined with anxiety, depression, and undiagnosed ADHD led Mahoney to seek immediate help via the CAPS drop-in hours.
While they had some trouble filling out the questionnaire, as they were in “crisis mode,” they were seen almost immediately after completing the form.
The counselor Mahoney saw not only helped them process the incident and their immediate feelings of anxiety but also the greater issues plaguing their life.
While not typically what counselors do, Mahoney’s counselor continued to see them on a regular basis while they were in school.
Through therapy, Mahoney was able to navigate getting diagnosed and medicated for ADHD and was able to build skills that helped them navigate the stress that is higher education.
“They are skills that I’ve continued to use and build on,” they said.
On the topic of ways the CAPS center could improve, Mahoney suggests that many of the problems other students are experiencing may point to staffing issues.
“If there’s struggles in how they’re able to show up for students,” Mahoney said, “it’s probably not from a lack of trying, but from a lack of funding and availability.”
If you or someone you know is struggling, there are several ways to get help. For emergencies, call 911 or go to the nearest hospital emergency center. You may also text 741-741 for the Crisis Text Line or 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
“We all deserve to have the healthcare we need provided,” Mahoney said.