Student Counseling Services

Location: S1-620 (behind the Medical School Library).  Enter the library, head toward the Computer Lab in the back-right corner then proceed through the brown steel door. There will be signs for SCS.
Telephone: 508-856-3220
Fax: 508-856-3036
URL: http://www.umassmed.edu/psychiatry/clinicalservices/studentcounseling/

Hours: Office Hours for Administrative Assistant
Monday - Thursday 8:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Friday 8:15 a.m. - 1:15 p.m.

Scheduling: To schedule an appointment with a clinician on the Student Counseling Service, please call: 508-856-3220 or email: SCS@umassmed.edu.

Services eligible to all: Medical Students, Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Students, and Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing Students

Services provided: Consultation and Evaluation, Psychotherapy, Medication management and Assistance with stress management

Drop-In Clinic: Established patients will be seen by Dr. Rizzi for uncomplicated medication refills or other quick needs. No appointment is necessary, but early arrival is recommended as students will be seen on a first-come-first-served basis. Drop-In Clinic hours are posted on our website. We will post any Drop–In Clinic announcements or changes to our website; please check the website if you wish to be apprised of such to review announcements to ensure that you are informed of changes outside the standard schedule.

Mental Health EMERGENCY: If a mental health emergency arises, please try to call our office first at 508-856-3220. Outside business hours please call Emergency Mental Health at 508-856-3562 and ask to have Dr. Rizzi paged at 4261.

Short Term/Long Term Use: Many students want to cope more effectively with difficult or stressful academic situations, while others seek counseling to deal with broader life issues. Some students come because of more serious, troublesome, and/or chronic difficulties in their lives. Others are beginning to address health and wellness issues. While short-term counseling is most common, it is possible, when time permits, for students to be seen for an extended period.  Medication is prescribed when needed.

Privacy and Confidentiality: SCS maintains strict standards of privacy and confidentiality. Records are kept separately from students’ general medical records. No information about a student’s contact with the service or information obtained in counseling is released to anyone outside the counseling service staff, including school or hospital administration, faculty, family, or other students, without the knowledge and written consent of the student, unless required by law or in the rare instance of an emergency situation involving someone’s safety.

Fees/Insurance: The costs of these services are covered by the prepaid Student Health Plan fee; there is no insurance billing and no additional charge to students for using SCS.

Stress Reduction Program: The Center for Mindfulness and the Stress Reduction Clinic offers a reduction in regular tuition to active medical students of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Medical Students can enroll in the 8-Week MBSR Stress Reduction Program at a tuition of $125 per cycle.  The CFM SRP accepts up to three students each cycle, a total of twelve per year. Should there be more than three per cycle, they will be accepted on a case-by-case basis.

Process:
-Call the Stress Reduction Program to enroll in an orientation and a class.
-Notify the staff that you are a Medical Student
-Attend Orientation
-Enroll in the program
-Pay your tuition fees