Students at MSU Denver, CU Denver and CCD have three routes: campus counseling, which is free with a limited number of sessions and can have a waitlist; community therapy paid through a student plan or privately; or telehealth across Colorado.
Campus counseling is the right first stop for most people. Off-campus is better for ongoing work, specialist treatment, or when the waitlist is longer than your semester.
Start with the campus counseling center
Genuinely the right first move, and we would rather say so than compete with it. Campus centers are good at short-term support, crisis response, and connecting you to campus resources. They are free, which matters on a student budget.
When off-campus makes more sense
When you have used your session allocation and still need work. When the wait is long enough to cost you a semester. When you need something specialized — EMDR for trauma, an eating disorder team, ADHD assessment and medication. When you want to keep the same therapist after you graduate. And when you want someone with no connection to your institution.
The confidentiality question students actually ask
Usually some version of “will my parents find out?”
If you are 18 or older, your therapy records are yours. A therapist cannot discuss your treatment with a parent without your written consent. The exception everywhere is imminent risk of serious harm.
The complication is money. If you are on a parent’s insurance plan, an explanation of benefits may go to the policyholder — showing that a claim was made, often with provider and date. It will not contain your session content. If that is a problem, paying privately avoids the paper trail entirely, and it is a common reason students choose self-pay.
Scheduling around a class schedule
Telehealth matters more than office location when you have a 90-minute gap between classes and no car.
Our nearest office to Auraria is in Denver on Jewell Avenue, right off I-25 and an easy drive from campus, while providing just enough distance for your privacy and not running into other students in the waiting room.
What we see most in students here
- Depression that arrives in the second or third semester, once the novelty has gone and the structure has not been replaced — see depression therapy.
- First-generation students carrying a family’s expectations with nobody at home who has done this.
- Adults returning to school at 30 or 45 — a large share of MSU Denver’s population, and a very different experience from an 18-year-old’s.
- Working students carrying 30 hours a week alongside full-time study.
- And ADHD recognized for the first time when college removed the scaffolding high school provided.
Common questions
- Can I see a therapist off campus while using campus counseling? Generally yes, though tell both so care is coordinated.
- Will therapy show up on my student record? No. Clinical records are separate from academic records.
- Can I keep my therapist after I graduate? With a community provider, yes — one of the main reasons students go off-campus.
Not sure whether you need campus counseling or something ongoing?
A free 15-minute call will tell you — including sending you back to your campus center if that is the better option. Our therapy for college students page covers the wider picture.
