Elson Student Health Center, University of Virginia

Your first psychiatric appointment will last approximately one hour.  During this appointment you will have the opportunity to discuss your feelings and symptoms and to receive the psychiatrist’s recommendations as to whether medication is a good option for you.  If you are prescribed medication, your psychiatrist will meet with you on an ongoing basis for follow-up medication management.  These additional medication management sessions will last approximately 20 to 30 minutes. 

It is your responsibility to stay on top of any medications that you take.  Your psychiatric provider will help you schedule your psychiatry appointments so that you don’t run out of medication between visits.  If you miss a psychiatry appointment, you should reschedule it immediately to avoid running out of medication.  If you do need to call for a prescription refill, you should call your psychiatric provider no later than 3 business days before you run out of your medication.

Sometimes the need for medication can extend beyond the time where your psychotherapy concludes.  If faced with this situation, you may be allowed to see a CAPS psychiatric provider for up to one year.  If your medication needs should extend beyond that point, you'll be referred into the community for continued psychiatric treatment.  You and your psychiatric provider may also agree that a community psychiatric referral is indicated at some point less than one year.  

You cannot make an initial appointment directly with a CAPS psychiatric provider.  Your first interaction with CAPS comes through an intake appointment or a walk-in meeting with a CAPS psychotherapist.  Based on your initial assessment and subsequent treatment planning you may be scheduled for an initial appointment with a CAPS psychiatric provider. 

CAPS psychiatric providers do not see students who only need prescriptions for ADHD medications.  For this specific need, you will generally be referred to a community psychiatrist.  However, if you are also experiencing emotional or psychological difficulties and are interested in obtaining help from CAPS through a combination of therapy and medication, your CAPS psychiatric provider may then prescribe your ADHD medication. 

If you are referred to a CAPS psychiatric provider and you've previously been diagnosed with ADHD, you should bring documentation of all ADHD-related assessments to your initial psychiatric appointment.  You will also need to see a Student Health General Medicine physician for a cardiac screening exam before a CAPS psychiatric provider can prescribe ADHD medication for you.  This is required by UVA Student Health Center policy. 

If you do find yourself about to run out of medication, your best option is to contact the doctor who originally prescribed your medication to obtain a refill (you may explain that you are trying to transfer your care but have not yet done this).  Most refills (excluding most ADHD medications) can be called into a local pharmacy by your original physician. You should not expect to receive a prescription from a CAPS psychiatric provider who has not been involved in your treatment.   The best thing you can do if you want to start seeing a psychiatrist in Charlottesville is to plan to transfer your care before you run low on your prescription. 

If you are unable to receive a refill prescription from your original prescribing physician and you are running out of medication, you may seek help at one of several same day clinics in Charlottesville.  Options are: Promptcare (434-978-3998) in Seminole Square, First Med, Inc. (434-984-4200) on Riverbend Road in Pantops , or Martha Jefferson’s Outpatient Emergency Care (434-982-8500) on Peter Jefferson Hwy in Pantops.  It may be useful to call ahead to determine their hours and if the services you seek can be provided there.

If you are interested in seeing a psychiatrist or therapist in the community, you can call CAPS during office hours and ask to speak with the on-call clinician for referral suggestions or to schedule an intake appointment with a CAPS therapist to discuss your treatment needs.  CAPS will be happy to provide referrals to psychotherapists and psychiatrists in the community.  Be aware that it can take several weeks to schedule an initial appointment with a community psychiatrist.

No, we don't.  If you've not previously been seen at CAPS you will first meet with a CAPS psychotherapist.  Subsequent treatment planning will proceed from there.

There is a full-service pharmacy at Student Health.  Their phone number is 924-1544.  You should check with them to see whether they accept your insurance.