Welcome to a space dedicated to mental health and wellness, where we bring together support, understanding, and resources to foster a balanced mind and a healthier, happier you.
STUDENT SUPPORT
Mental health
U-M Counseling and Psychological Services
Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) is U-M’s campus counseling center. They offer counseling and psychotherapy, groups, and campus events.
CAPS staff biographies can help you get a sense of their areas of expertise.
Trained in providing affirming care to trans and non-binary students.
After-hours call line for any U-M student or any person concerned about a U-M student.
Local resources
- Use the CAPS Community Provider Database to find an off-campus provider.
- Wolverine Support Network is a student organization offering free peer-facilitated weekly groups on campus for undergraduate and graduate students. With 30+ groups per week, students are placed in a group at a time and location most convenient for them. Trained students lead groups to promote students’ well-being and build community in an accessible, confidential, and inclusive environment. There are LGBTQ+ and BIPOC specific affinity groups available for undergraduate students which are facilitated by and for folks of that shared identity category.
Healthy relationships
We all may engage in different kinds of relationships - friendships, romantic relationships, sexual relationships, family relationships, etc. The core of healthy relationships includes understanding and acting in accordance with your own values, consent (yours and others’), and communication.
People in LGBTQ+ communities may or may not desire intimate relationships - romantic, sexual, or both. For those who do desire or enter into relationships, these relationships may be monogamous or non-monogamous (e.g., open or polyamorous relationships).
LGBTQ+ communities are often smaller, which influences people’s experiences of forming relationships (of all sorts) within them. If you are a queer or trans person interested in romantic or sexual relationships, it is especially important to be aware of the unique dynamics of forming relationships, no matter the duration, in small communities.
Unfortunately, relationships are not always healthy or safe. Both intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual violence affect LGBTQ+ communities. IPV in queer and trans relationships can take different forms, including using sexuality and gender identity against you. If you or someone you know is in crisis, please see the Response and Support tab.
Campus resources
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University Health Service offers helpful insights into building healthy relationships.
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Wolverine Wellness’s Wellness Coaching, one-on-one coaching conversations focused on your wellbeing, can help you think about your values, relationships, and sexual health.
National resources
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Planned Parenthood provides a general overview of what to look for in a relationship, and what are signs of an unhealthy relationship.
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The Asexual Visibility & Education Network (AVEN) provides a broad overview of asexuality, multiple FAQs, and perspectives from asexual people.
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Scarleteen’s introductory series on polyamory is a great place to learn more about non-monogamy.
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The Power and Control Wheel for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans Relationships and Beyond the Wheel: Tactics of Abuse are brief overviews of what IPV can look like in LGBTQ+ relationships.
Other organizations to learn more about
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The NW Network of Bi, Trans, Lesbian and Gay Survivors of Abuse works to end violence and abuse by building loving and equitable relationships in our community and across the country
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INCITE! is a network of radical feminists of color organizing to end state violence and violence in our homes and communities