CAPS brings liaison program to USI colleges

When it comes to the health and wellbeing of USI students, the University has a plethora of programs, departments and individuals ready to help. To help USI employees share the mental health resources available to students, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) has introduced a new liaison program on campus.

Many larger universities—as well as primary care institutions and military bases—utilize an embedded model when it comes to mental health services. In these instances, mental health providers are in close physical proximity to the population they serve rather than being centrally located in one clinic area.

Larger universities that use this model station a mental health provider in each of their individual colleges, while some even have a provider in campus housing and athletics to serve students on-site. “They are all still connected through a counseling office, but they are physically where the students are,” says Dr. Robin Sanabria, Director of CAPS. “I’ve known the system was an option for us to consider, but I was trying to find a way to apply it in a more appropriate way for our setting here at USI.”

Though USI has a smaller campus and student population, Sanabria and her staff recognized the system would not only benefit the student population, but also help employees provide resources and connect students to CAPS easier. Last year, the team worked to adapt the embedded care model to fit USI. Instead of physically placing a member of the CAPS team in each college, each member of the CAPS staff has chosen a college where they will be the liaison.

“When planning our model, we realized there’s already a precedent for liaisons on campus, with a few departments having points of contact for others on campus,” Sanabria explained. “Careers Services is one example of this system as they have a counselor specific to each college.”

In the fall of 2024, Sanabria and the CAPS team presented their mental health liaison proposal to University leadership and were approved to implement the program. In the USI model, the liaison works closely with the dean of the college, working to outline goals of building relationships with faculty and staff, understanding the culture, building trust within the specific college’s environment and providing consultation to develop mental health-related outreach. The CAPS staff are also establishing themselves as a point-of-contact and resource to help address the needs of students, whether on a broad scale or one-on-one.

The new system will not change the current processes of CAPS—it adds an extra element that allows counselors to share resources as well as gain knowledge from USI’s colleges on how to better serve students. Sanabria also says she and her staff hope to use these relationships to collaborate with faculty, staff, committees, etc. on mental health initiatives.

“When we planned this initiative, we tried to think of ways to broaden our footprint in a way that gets us connected with the most students,” Sanabria says. “This also serves our counselors as they interact and connect with others on campus, gaining visibility with colleagues and sharing available CAPS resources. It’s kind of a win-win.”

In the few months that the liaison program has been established, the Kinney College of Nursing and Health Professions has reached out and, through liaison Chris Metz, Staff Counselor, is planning projects to help benefit students’ mental health and raise awareness.

“Normally, I would have received that information and worked with the counselors to find someone available to connect with them. But because Chris is already the liaison for that college, he was able to reach out quickly and ask how he could help with the project,” Sanabria explains.

One of the biggest advantages CAPS hopes to see from the liaison program is getting care to students quicker. “Maybe a student or faculty members isn’t aware of CAPS or the resources we provide. For example, if we receive a CARE team report from an adjunct faculty member who isn’t aware of CAPS, the liaison in that college can connect with them to share resources and information not just for the student, but for that faculty member as well,” says Sanabria.

“While we can work on a macro level to help coordinate events related to mental health, now a liaison can visit and talk to their connections directly on things, even if it’s as simple as having a concern about a student,” she adds.

If you would like more information about CAPS and/or the liaison program, reach out by email at usi.caps@usi.edu, call 812-464-1867 or speak with your college’s liaison:

School of Graduate Studies: Robin Sanabria — rlsanabria@usi.edu
Pott College of Science, Engineering, and Education: Jacob Hartz — jthartz@usi.edu
College of Liberal Arts: Aaron Pryor — alpryor@usi.edu
Kinney College of Nursing and Health Professions: Chris Metz — ctmetz@usi.edu
Romain College of Business: Adrian Burden — aburden@usi.edu