We are committed to inclusive excellence.
We are committed to inclusive excellence by affirming the dignity and worth of all individuals. As a community, our lives are interconnected, and we benefit from a commitment of recognizing, affirming, promoting, and celebrating the many ways we are unique. We believe that every person is essential and that every interaction matters. Thus, we intentionally integrate inclusive excellence into all our services. We are committed to all students feeling welcome.

Diversity means something different for each person and entity.
We meet students where they are in their own awareness and identity (e.g., racial, sexual, spiritual, gender) development. We strive to create an inclusive environment for our students and our staff at CAPS by recognizing that every individual has a unique cultural background and is in a different place in their journey. We believe the journey of cultural competency and humility is ongoing. We recognize that prejudice and discrimination are detrimental to all people and strive to take personal responsibility in knowledge acquisition as well as work to increase our self-awareness in the richness of human diversity. We know that only through an awareness of ourselves as cultural beings can we hope to understand and help others.

We honor students’ experience.
We strive for the preservation and protection of every student’s fundamental rights. Counseling services are confidential. Therefore, welcome students’ stories and keep them. Our goal is to provide a welcoming space that is safe where students are free to explore and discuss their attitudes, beliefs, values, and behaviors in relation to others who are similar to and different from their own experience and identity. We work to eliminate biases, prejudices, and discriminatory practices by maintaining a space of openness and trust where continued reflection, examination, and discussion are used for effective resolution.

We strive for social justice and advocacy for all the diverse student body. We recognize that we are all subject to mistakes and can struggle with our own biases, identities, and status/privilege. We understand that an examination of personal privileges, biases, and their impact on our professional work is best accomplished within a climate of safety and respect. Thus, we are committed to maintaining a diverse staff at CAPS representative of our diverse student populations. We are committed to educating ourselves, and others, about the mental health issues of a multicultural society.