The Graduate Wellness Center, located in 444 Eshleman Hall, is a satellite office for Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and the Disabled Students Program (DSP). The Wellness Center (pictured below) provides graduate-focused wellness and mental health services.
Services offered at the Graduate Wellness Center:
- Individual Counseling
- Couples' Counseling
- Group Counseling
- DSP accommodations and services for graduate students
- Talks and Workshops (Graduate Student Wellbeing, Mindfulness, Stress and Resilience, Transitioning from Self-Criticism to Kindness)
Common Graduate Topics:
- Feeling like an imposter
- Having difficulty adjusting to graduate school
- Having a difficult advisor or professor relationship
- Having trouble finding healthy work/life balance
- Anxiety and/or depression
Speaking with a counselor in a confidential setting can help you access support, gain a different perspective, help you explore resources and options, and discuss how counseling might be helpful.
How to Get Started
The Graduate Wellness Center is located in 444 Eshleman Hall in the Graduate Assembly Suite. You won’t have to worry about running into an undergraduate student that you teach or mentor.
Make an appointment by contacting the Graduate Wellness Center team:
Dr. Amy Honigman: (510) 664-5117, ahonigman@berkeley.edu
Alvaro Gomez: (510) 664-4418, alvarogomez@berkeley.edu (DSP Services provided at the Wellness Center on Tues/Thurs)
Drop-In Consultations
Counseling: Mondays from 2-3pm (call Dr. Honigman to hold a time)
DSP Services: Tuesdays from 3-4:30pm and Thursdays 1:30-2:30pm (call Alvaro Gomez to hold a time)
Meet the team at the Graduate Wellness Center:
Amy Honigman, PhD is a highly experienced counselor who specializes in graduate student mental health. In her position as the Graduate Assembly Wellness Counselor, Amy sees individuals and couples in counseling, hosts groups on Mindfulness for Stress and Resilience, provides outreach talks about issues particularly unique to graduate students, and helps train GSI, faculty, and staff on wellness for graduate students. Amy has expertise in working with multicultural counseling, underserved and marginalized populations, intersecting identities, LGBTQIA+ issues, relationship challenges, academic development, stress and resilience, mindfulness and meditation. Dr. Honigman is always interested to hear ideas from students about how to improve the culture of wellness for Berkeley’s graduate students.
Alvaro Gomez, MA, has been working in the field of Disability and Higher Education for the past 25 years. In his role as a Disability Specialist for Graduate Students at U.C. Berkeley’s Disabled Students’ Program, Alvaro works with graduate students with disabilities to provide individualized accommodations and services at all stages of students’ graduate careers. Alvaro’s experience as a Disability Specialist at Berkeley informs his knowledge of the unique concerns that graduate students with disabilities experience at Cal. Alvaro also conducts outreach and networks with departments and faculty and the Graduate Division to create and refine policies and practices in support of campus equity and inclusion. Alvaro’s main office is located in the Chavez Student Center, and he is excited to partner with the Graduate Assembly Wellness Center to allow students the opportunity to meet with him in a graduate student-centered space.
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 buildout and ongoing staffing, and the office opened in 2018. 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.