UVM health director quietly resigns after a year on the job
Sawyer Loftus, News and Sports Editor
January 29, 2020
The executive director of UVM’s Center for Health and Wellbeing and the University’s chief public health officer has stepped down from his role. Harry Chen, former Commissioner of Health for the state of Vermont, is “transitioning” from his role as executive director of the Center for Health and Wellb...
Student demand for CAPS services rises
Irene Choi, Staff Writer
November 8, 2019
An increase in student demand for mental health services has led to the creation of two new drop-in programs, Let’sTalk and THRIVE, from UVM’s Counseling and Psychiatry Services. At UVM, there has been a 5.6% average increase in student enrollment, but a 29.6% average increase in demand for ment...
A ‘stretched’ CAPS gets a new leader
Julianne Lesch, Cynic News Reporter
September 25, 2019
Last year UVM Counseling and Psychiatry Services was left running “very thin,” said the former interim director. Now UVM has hired a new director, who has worked at five universities in the last 20 years. The addition of Carrie Flieder as director of CAPS rounds out a time of transition ...
Students seek mental health help in winter months
Jean MacBride, Staff Writer
February 13, 2019
Vermont’s dark winters, with their bluster and shadow, leave many studetns struggling with their mental health. Seasonal affective disorder is a type of depression that occurs in nine percent of New England’s population, according to a 2015 study by the National Institute of Health. D...
First-year student dies
Lee Hughes, Assistant News Editor
February 3, 2019
A first-year student died unexpectedly over the weekend. First-year Connor Gage from Little Falls, N.Y. died Feb. 2 off campus, according to a Feb. 3 email to the University community from Annie Stevens, vice provost for student affairs. No exact cause of death has been confirmed by the Bu...
CAPS uses short-term model
Ben Drape, Staff Writer
October 18, 2018
UVM’S Counseling and Psychiatry Services are only meant to be used as short-term counseling, despite students desiring long-term services. CAPS uses a short-term model when counseling clients, Interim CAPS Director John-Paul Grogan said, although many students use the services for longer-term counseling and being...
Students need more mental health services
Joey Waldinger, Assistant News Editor
February 12, 2018
At the end of last semester, senior George S. Tolley IV sought help from Counseling and Psychiatry Services for the first time of his college career, he said. His was a special case, so after calling the office on a Tuesday he managed to get an appointment the following Friday, but most students ...
Students struggle to book health appointments during finals
Joey Waldinger, Assistant News Editor
January 16, 2018
Students are struggling to schedule appointments essential to their physical and mental health, often in the days leading up to finals. Due to increased demand for Center for Health and Wellbeing appointments – including Counseling and Psychiatry Services and Student Health Services – students say t...
A conversation with counselor Keith Smith
December 7, 2016
Keith Smith, a UVM psychiatric counselor, sat in a chair in his Jacobs House office, surrounded by psychology textbooks and house plants. Smith serves as the the Men’s Outreach Coordinator and a counselor at UVM. Alongside these duties, he advises the 1 in 4 sexual assault peer education grou...
Is the FitBit a good fit for you?
March 24, 2016
There’s been a recent health fad of fitness and activity tracking devices which are conveniently found on smartphones or worn on wrists.[media-credit name="RYAN THORNTON" align="alignnone" width="354"][/media-credit]On my bus ride home this week I noticed seven of the 10 people on board, myself included, were wearing a variety of trackers of different colors...
