Student Mental Health and Wellbeing is committed to providing high quality, culturally responsive, holistic mental health care and wellbeing services to assist learners achieve academic and professional success as well as lifelong health.
Student Mental Health and Wellbeing (SMHW) assists Student Academic Affairs (SAA) and the University in helping the student body achieve academic, social and personal success. Through the provision of mental health services, SMHW strives to help ensure that students, as well as the larger campus community, remain healthy in this pursuit of success. SMHW promotes the emotional well-being of students through individual and group psychotherapy, crisis intervention, consultation, outreach, and stress management services. We educate, support, advocate and help foster a culture of awareness, acceptance, and appreciation of human differences. In the provision of services, SMHW staff strives to offer a safe, inclusive, and affirming environment for all.
Appreciation for Human Differences
The SMHW Staff is a diverse, multidisciplinary, and multicultural group of professionals. We continually strive to provide UCSF students, faculty, and staff with professional services which demonstrate sensitivity and respect for human differences (e.g., age, gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, language, and socio-economic status), as evidenced by a commitment to receiving the additional training and consultation necessary to ensure the provision of responsive, culturally attuned, and affirmative services.
We continue to develop strong ties with our campus partners and strive for cultural humility:
Office of Diversity and Outreach UCSF
Anti-Racism Initiative | Office of Diversity and Outreach UCSF
UCSF LGBTQ Committee | Office of Diversity and Outreach UCSF
Artificial Intelligence and Therapy
Students should be aware that ChatGPT and most other AI are not designed or trained for therapeutic use and are not equivalent to therapy with a qualified clinician. ChatGPT and most other AI can generate responses that contribute to harm, including generating false information (also called hallucinations), and there have been allegations of AI advising users to do harm to themselves or take steps toward suicide. AI are also not confidential; consider that information shared with AI may be gathered for proprietary use by companies operating AI. Please take these risks and limitations into account when deciding on your own personal AI use. Confidential mental health services remain available at SMHW (https://studentmentalhealth.ucsf.edu/) and students can book a brief consult through their MyHealthPortal. Additionally, our mental health consultation line is available 24/7 at 415-476-1281 option 2.
Additional Resources:
AI and psychology resources
UCSF sits upon the traditional unceded lands of the Ramaytush Ohlone peoples. To learn more UCSF Land Acknowledgment | Office of Diversity and Outreach UCSF