As a grad student, where do I go for mental health and counseling services?
As a registered student at UC Berkeley, all undergraduate and graduate students are eligible for mental health and counseling and psychological services regardless of insurance coverage. Areas of focus are academic success, life management (relationships, coping with personal crisis, etc), career and life planning, personal growth and development. For non emergencies, please contact Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) at:
2222 Bancroft Way #4300
Berkeley, CA 94720
Third floor of the Tang Center
Tel: (510) 642-9494
Fax: (510) 642-2368
Counseling after-hours support line: (855) 817-5667
CAPS satellite offices are located at the following locations:
- Anna Head Satellite – 2536 Channing Way (between Telegraph & Bowditch)
- Career Counseling Library – 3rd Floor of the Tang Center
- Satellite Offices: Many of the CAPS satellite offices are now closed. Please check your specific location.
Graduate Wellness Center
The Wellness Center is located in Mulford Hall in the UC Berkeley Rausser College of Natural Resources
Wellness Center Initiative
The Wellness Center Initiative is the result of several years of hard work by student leaders and their campus partners. The GA and ASUC began working together on student wellness in 2014. The GA developed the first-in-UC Graduate Student Wellbeing survey in 2014, and, in coordination with the ASUC, developed the UC Berkeley Wellness Fee Referendum. Funds from the Wellness Fee supported the GA Wellness Center’s build-out and ongoing staffing, and the office opened in 2018. The 2026 iteration of the Wellness Center serves the needs of Grad Students and is a collaborative effort between the IVP x CAPs x Rausser College of Natural Resources. Literature increasingly documents the challenges to mental health that graduate studies entail, and the GA believes that specialists who understand the unique difficulties of graduate study are essential to addressing this reality.
What services are out there specifically for graduate students?
The Career Center sponsors workshops specifically for graduate students and offers Ph.D. career counseling services by appointment. University and Health services offers support groups and individual support for graduate students. All of this information can be found here.
Licensed Psychologist
Sasha Blum first started at CAPS back in 2002 as a Postdoctoral Fellow and transitioned to a Staff Psychologist position in 2006. Sasha’s first 10 years at Cal focused on serving underrepresented, first-generation students then in 2016, she shifted to a generalist position at CAPS and provided clinical services to the entire student body.
In 2022, Sasha applied for and was thrilled to accept a full-time position as a graduate student specialist. As part of her role, Sasha provides short-term counseling, consultation, outreach, advocacy and referral services. In addition to two decades of experience addressing a wide variety of mental health concerns Sasha also brings specialized expertise in imposter syndrome, LGBTIQ concerns, ADHD, and nontraditional relationship structures.
Graduate and professional students who would like to schedule a counseling appointment with Dr. Sasha Blum should call CAPS at (510) 642 – 9494 or send her an email at sashablum@berkeley.edu. Her office is located in Mulford Hall.
Family friendly benefits
For family friendly benefits including need-based award that can be used for housing, health insurance, childcare, and/or fee and tuition costs, please visit this link.
As a GSI where do I go in order to refer one of my students to mental health services?
Connecting a student to counseling:
- The first step is to look for signs!
- If signs exist, encourage the student to call CAPS at (510) 642-9494 or visit the third floor of the Tang Center to begin counseling. Counseling is available for all registered students. If the student is not open to counseling, call CAPS to consult with a counselor.