Attending to your own mental and physical health is integral to maintaining relationships with others and continuing your academic progress. This includes honest conversations with your advisor about your well-being as it relates to your ongoing work and responsibilities. The UW offers a number of resources to help. The best place to find an overview of many of the services available to you is the Student Life website.
Mental Health Consultation Appointments
These are brief, informal consultations which are free and confidential for Allen School students. This service is operated by a licensed mental health professional in association with the University of Washington Counseling Center. Consultation appointments are not a substitute for regular therapy, counseling or psychiatric care. If you book an appointment, check in at the Allen Center reception desk in CSE 101 and let them know you are here for your appointment with John Rumney.
Let's Talk Drop-Ins
- 15-minute in-person or virtual same day appointments are available Tuesdays from 2:00pm – 3:30pm and Thursdays from 3:00pm – 4:30pm.
Scheduled Appointments
- 30-minute virtual appointments are available on Monday through Friday.
- 30-minute in-person appointments are available Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
More information about the Allen School Mental Health Consultant is available on John Rumney's webpage.
Mental Health
Your mental health is key to your success as a graduate student. This means proactively maintaining your mental health as well as taking action when you think you are struggling.
Proactively maintaining your mental health
Just as practices like exercise and hydration maintain your physical health, you can engage with practices to maintain your mental health as well. You can look through the resources available from the UW by visiting the Mental Health page of the Husky Health & Well-Being website.
There are many mental health services available, including counseling, crisis intervention, medication evaluation, group therapy and support groups, mindfulness meditation and more -- and these are either free or covered by your GAIP health insurance.
UW Counseling Center offers free, short-term individual counseling sessions and referrals to longer-term care providers. They also offer group counseling, workshops, and trainings.
LiveWell offers several programs for folks in need of coaching, advocacy, and advice outside of a therapeutic relationship. The Student Care program offers coaching related to managing stress, emotions, or finances as well as navigating the relationship between school and the rest of your life activities. The Confidential Advocates program offers safe and confidential support for “helping students identify what they want or need after an incident of sexual assault, relationship violence, stalking or sexual harassment has occurred.”
The IMA offers courses in yoga, mindfulness, and meditation
The Center for Child & Family Well-Being offers events and multi-week classes for mindfulness, self-compassion, resilience, and stress management.
One other important practice in maintaining your mental health is building a “community of support.” You likely already have one such community in the friends and family you had before even entering the program! You’ll want to continue to build on that community with the following practices:
Connecting with graduate student peers on and off campus.
Joining identity and culture-based communities in the field and on campus, including GSEE, the Graduate Student Equity and Excellence program.
Relationships outside of the program, including friends, family, and hobbies.
Honest communication with your faculty advisor, especially if health issues are preventing you from completing coursework or making progress on research.
If reaching out to your faculty advisor is uncomfortable or undesirable, reach out to the grad advising team for help identifying means of support.
Working through moments of crisis
SafeCampus for yourself or for others: (206) 685-7833
Virtual Crisis services available 24/7 through MySSP
Phone and text messaging support for students, staff, and the UW Community
Physical Health
Keep healthy by staying hydrated, eating regularly, exercising and going outside once in a while -- even in the rain!
If you’re experiencing food insecurity, visit the website for the Any Hungry Husky program. They host food pantries, offer food security funding grants, and soon a “food alert” SMS messaging system to let students know when food becomes available from events.
UW Recreation has a number of ways to get out and active, including aquatics, climbing walls, gear rentals and a whole lot more. The student fees you pay with tuition grants you access to the IMA, a complete fitness center for all sorts of activities. Don’t forget about the Waterfront Activity Center where you can rent canoes and kayaks as well as take sailing courses!
The CSE Student Morale fund can provide money to enable group activities like our CSE softball team, our hiking groups, or the meet-and-eat series of CSE student events. These are great ways to attend to both physical and mental health and well-being while reinforcing our Allen School communities.