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A guide to mental health resources at UIUC with crowdsourced anecdotal advice. |
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Why? I’m a student who was denied mental health resources as a kid so I made it my mission to figure out what exactly was wrong with me and how to fix it when I arrived on campus. Through my journey, I’ve learned some things that I thought would be useful to compile into a guide that the UIUC community can use and contribute to!
This guide also includes anecdotal advice from various contributors which are not substitutes for medical advice.
- In an emergency, text HOME to 741741
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – Call 800-273-TALK (8255) to speak with a trained crisis counselor.
- Crisis Text Line – Text 741-741 to connect with a trained crisis counselor to receive crisis support via text message.
- National Domestic Violence Hotline – Call 800-799-SAFE (7233) to speak with trained experts who provide confidential support to anyone experiencing domestic violence or seeking resources and information.
- National Sexual Assault Hotline – Call 800-656-HOPE (4673) to connect with a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area that offers access to a range of free services. Crisis chat support is also available at Online Hotline.
- Disaster Distress Helpline- Call 1-800-985-5990 or text “TalkWithUs” to 66746. The disaster distress helpline provides immediate crisis counseling for people who are experiencing emotional distress related to any natural or human-caused disaster. The helpline is free, multilingual, confidential, and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- Rosecrance Substance/Mental Health Helpline- Call 1-866-330-8729. This group does mental health triage at hospitals and offers partial hospitalization, mental health recovery services, and recovery living. They also have substance abuse centers (with one located in Champaign).
- 24/7 Champaign-Urbana Crisis Helpline
Phone: (217) 359-4141 - Illinois WarmLine
Website: http://illinoismentalhealthcollaborative.com
Phone: (866) 359-7953 - Suicide Prevention Team (Hours: 8 am – 5 pm)
610 East John St.
Phone: (217) 333-3704 - Rape Advocacy, Counseling, and Education Services 24 hour crisis hotline at 217-384-4444 or 877-2-END-RAPE.
Website: https://odos.illinois.edu/community-of-care/student-assistance-center/
Phone: (217) 333-0050 Email: helpdean@illinois.edu
Hours: Drop-in hours will continue to be Monday-Friday, 10:00 am-3:00 pm but will only be by phone or skype/zoom. No drop-in hours will be available in-person.
A catch-all for general issues. Reach out to them for helping you advocate for yourself with staff, faculty, students, and other organizations on campus.
Website: https://counselingcenter.illinois.edu/counseling
Phone: (217) 333-3704
Appointments (https://counselingcenter.illinois.edu/node/4)
The UIUC Counseling Center is committed to providing a range of resources intended to help students develop improved coping skills to address emotional, interpersonal, and academic concerns. From my experience, getting on the phone line right before it opens is the best way to get the initial appointment.
Website: https://mckinley.illinois.edu/medical-services/mental-health Appointments (schedule by phone): (217) 333-2701 Emergency: (217) 359-4141
The Mental Health unit at McKinley Health Center (McKinley) provides assessment and recommendations for subsequent treatment for a variety of emotional and behavioral difficulties. Short-term individual psychotherapy, up to a few sessions, is provided as indicated. Patients can be prescribed psychiatric medication, stimulant medication prescriptions, and support for emotional support animals.
Website : (https://www.disability.illinois.edu/)[https://www.disability.illinois.edu/]
Phone: (217) 333-1970
Apply for services : (https://myaccesscenter.apps.uillinois.edu/myAccessCenter/student/dashboard)[https://myaccesscenter.apps.uillinois.edu/myAccessCenter/student/dashboard]
The mission of the Division of Disability Resources and Educational Services is to ensure that qualified individuals with disabilities are afforded an equal opportunities at the university. DRES helps with identification and enactment of reasonable modifications to institutional policies and procedures, the provision of effective auxiliary aids and services, the establishment of innovative educational services.
Website: Women's Resources Center, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Phone: 217 333-1300 Email: womenscenter@illinois.edu
Appointments: In-person services are available Tuesday and Wednesday from 9:00am - 5:00pm.
Phone/virtual advocacy and support for new, past, or currently-served clients and their support person(s) is available Monday-Friday from 9:00am – 5:00pm.
To schedule a free appointment: Call (217) 333-3137 or email womenscenter@illinois.edu (or your Confidential Advisor for current/past clients) from a safe number or email account. Please note email is not a confidential form of communication, and should only be used for scheduling purposes.
A completely no-strings-attached*, anonymous resource center for women with a wide variety of resources. *The WRC has 4 confidential advisors not mandated to report to the Title IX office. Pursuing accountability/safety options requires a report to the Title IX Coordinator in a survivor-led, well-informed, guided manner. More info at https://wecare.illinois.edu/faq/employees/ and at https://wecare.illinois.edu/policies/terms/#advisor.
Website: http://psc.illinois.edu/
Phone: (217) 333-0041
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Psychology Department’s Psychological Services Center (PSC) offers culturally relevant, evidence-based, cutting edge services to the Champaign-Urbana community and to U of I campus staff/faculty/students while contributing to education and scholarship in the fields of Clinical and Community Psychology. Their services include diagnostic assessment, psychotherapy, and mindfulness training.
- Computer Science Advising
Website: https://cs.illinois.edu/academics/undergraduate/undergraduate-advising
Phone: (217) 333-4428 - College of Engineering Embedded Counselor: Juvenal George
Contact: juvegeor@illinois.edu - College of LAS Embedded Counselor: Andy Novinska
Contact: anovinsk@illinois.edu - College of Engineering Weekly DRES Office Hour Counselor: Rachel Green, DRES
Wednesdays, 3:30-4:30 pm (30-minute appointments) in 206 Engineering Hall
Appointments: To schedule an appointment, contact Kyra Lochelle (lochelle@illinois.edu)
You can find the complete list of Embedded Counselors at https://counselingcenter.illinois.edu/about-us/embedded-counselors
- Telehelp (online counseling for students with United Healthcare)
Website: http://telehelp4students.com - UIUC Psychology Department’s List of Covid-19 Mental Health Resources
Google Docs: link
- Faculty/Staff Assistance Services
Website: https://humanresources.illinois.edu/fsas/
Phone: (217) 244-5312
Email: fsas@illinois.edu - Campus Well-Being Services
Website: http://humanresources.illinois.edu/campus-wellbeing-services/about.html/
Phone (217) 265-9355
- Grainger CARE (Center for Academic Resources In Engineering) Website: https://students.grainger.illinois.edu/care/home/ Phone: (217) 244-2678 Email: engr-care@illinois.edu
Here is anecdotal (unless otherwise indicated) information about how to get diagnosed and treated for various mental conditions.
- Depression
- Start at the counseling center who will give you a referral to either a private practice or McKinley psychiatrists for screening.
- You should go see an MD at McKinley to get official medical documentation of your illness. Are you currently treating your depression with any meds? If not, I'd suggest asking your MD about that too. I felt a world of a difference when I started medicine and was surprised at how much it helped.
I also highly recommend DRES. Are you signed up with them? They're a great resource and do A LOT to help you with your academic goals, taking time off, medical leave, etc while having a disability. And trust me, depression is a serious illness and disability-- you deserve accommodations! I just signed up with DRES and am getting accommodations and it's really helping. (via u/miimijae on reddit)
- Anxiety
- Start at the counseling center who will give you a referral to either a private practice or McKinley psychiatrists for screening.
- My personal experience is if you’ve already been to the counseling center you have to get the person that you’ve been seeing to recommend you for a screening at DRES. If you just fill out the form online and your counselor from the center doesn’t recommend you- you’ll just get told it’s a mood disorder and to keep seeing the counseling center. That’s what happened to me.
I went to outside therapist in downtown Champaign, for adhd and mood testing. I got an official diagnosis of anxiety, and then brought that to DRES and got accommodations. It was a process of about 2 months at a cost after insurance of $500. Definitely worth it though. - (via u/Tris42 on reddit)
- ADHD
- Start at the counseling center who will give you a referral to either a private practice or DRES for screening.
- Basically what I did was went to their website which is elliottcounselinggroup.com and scrolled down and used the contact us feature and said I wanted to be evaluated for ADHD. They emailed me back within a couple days, and we set up an appointment with one of the nurse practitioners.
After the first appointment, you have to do lab work because they have to test for anemia and low vitamin D before they can treat you. This can be done at McKinley, and it does not take long at all. The paperwork at McKinley took longer.
Your results will come back quickly, and you will take an ADHD self evaluation form. At this point, you and your provider will decide the next steps, which for me was medication.
I only pay a copay of $25, but this is with insurance. I believe insurance is kind of necessary to go this route.
They are really nice at Elliott Counseling Group, and my appointments are very chill and all under 20 mins. (via u/wopil on reddit) - As someone’s who’s going through this process rn, I’d just like to mention that at the bottom of the DRES website there’s a link to request an academic screening, so not sure how necessary it is to go through the Turner center. However, I’d recommend it anyways since the counselors are extremely helpful. (via u/sg1 on reddit)
- To add: If you contact DRES for an academic screening, and they don't think it's necessary don't be afraid to go to the outside community. I had to do that and with the student insurance it was around $500 instead of $2000. The process still took about the same length, and I did get DRES accommodations by the end of the semester. If you think something is up and want answers go seek them out there's nothing bad that can come from it. (via u/Tris42 on reddit)
- If you believe you have an actual mental illness, call the Turner Center ASAP and set up an appointment. Depending on what the counselor says, either leave or continue sorting out your problems by going there once a week and contacting DRES. If you contacted DRES and they messaged you back, set up a date. When that date arrives, take the test(s). Once the results are in, go to DRES, discuss results, and proceed from there. I would highly highly highly recommend continuing with the counselor for a least a semester. It does wonders. (via u/WhatShouldIDoNoSleep on reddit)
- If you've already been diagnosed you just have to register with DRES. And there's more than that; you can also get a private testing room, 1.5x minutes on the test, and a peer note taker. In my opinion it was worth it when I needed it; (via u/WhatShouldIDoNoSleep on reddit)
- Autism
- As of 9/30, Phone screenings for Autism are free at the Pyschological Services Center: https://psc.illinois.edu/autism-spectrum-assessment-services/
- I've personally been on the waitlist for around 6 mo and have yet to hear back (via u/MaddeningMonday on reddit)
- Reddit user said Carle does screenings for Autism (but may have long waitlist) (via anon)
- DRES does free screenings for Autism after you get registered with them. See more info here: https://www.disability.illinois.edu/academic-supports/supports-students-autism on what services you can get re: Auxiliary aids, Therapy and Academic/Career Counseling. **this process only works if you have not previously been registered with DRES (via u/MaddeningMonday on reddit)
- Screening vs Diagnosis: Screening is a 1x process that is used to asses whether the individual is at "risk" for having autism. Diagnosis is an intensive process that happens over multiple appointments and conducted in person by a clinician with expertise in Autism. Assesments include behavioral interviews, written assesments and clinical observations. (via Hena Thakur from PSC)
- Bipolar Disorder
- contact them and also collect up your diagnosis info, contact info for doctors, etc so when you connect with DRES you can start the process as quickly as possible. (u/old-uiuc-pictures on reddit)
- Pulled off multiple 1.x GPAs in a row, eventually did a medical withdrawal, interned in Research Park that summer, got involved with therapy @ McKinley Mental Health Center (was required then for readmission... Maybe I was lucky, but it was just a couple weeks before I could schedule first appointment, and subsequent ones are made on the spot jsut like any normal Dr office. I def chose my own person ("yo can I make an apt with _____? Thx"). Ymmv, I guess. And it's free (via u/uiucmike on reddit)
- It definitely can be, but you gotta seek out help. Your teachers and peers are not trained to deal with it. I would recommend checking out McKinley (http://mckinley.illinois.edu/medical-services/mental-health) people shit on it, but it has always been there/helped me out. Also scripts are cheap there if you need them. (via u/cos10 on reddit)
- Hey, I was just diagnosed bipolar 2 in the fall a year and a half after graduating, and that has since been downgraded to cyclothymia thanks to medication. My advice is to get to the counselling center as soon as you can and if you want to take that extra step (which I can't recommend enough) to go to mckinley whenever you get a chance. (via u/mathemasexual on reddit)
Often times, UIUC routes of diagnosis are time consuming and you just want to get your accomodations and move on with life. Here are some sites you can get your diagnosis at. Make sure you share the official reports with your access specialist at DRES and set up an appointment to discuss changes to your letter of accomodation!
ADHD
- https://www.klarityadhd.com/evaluation?ref_internal=navBarEvaluationButton
- at the time of writing this guide, the charge for the appointment was $149 with two visits included
- if you are getting meds w/no insurance, I highly reccomend using GoodRX to get a discount (via u/maddeningmonday on reddit)
AUTISM
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If you do not have health insurance, or if you file taxes on your own, or if your parents earn under a certain income, Carle will comp[ensate] medical attention to receive. You have to apply for Financial assistance here:
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Finally, I would reach out to the Student Assistance Center which is sort of like a central location for "where do I get help with xyz" on campus. They will be able to point you to resources I don't know about, as well as advise on your academic situation this semester.
https://odos.illinois.edu/community-of-care/student-assistance-center/
(via u/phoneticallyspeaking on reddit)
Resources Used:
CS Mental Health Committee: www.csmhcillinois.com
r/UIUC: www.reddit.com/r/UIUC/
UIUC department of Psychology: https://psychology.illinois.edu/