Penn State Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) offers crisis intervention, various forms of counseling, seminars, consultations, and even informal sessions in dining halls. CAPS has recently partnered with WellTrack, an interactive self-help online service where users can track their mental state. Different modules allow students to navigate through different challenges as well.

The online activities from WellTrack are available to all Penn State students free of charge, and you can find these right on the program website. It’s a confidential platform designed to promote student wellness and equip users with tools to deal with stress, anxiety, and depression.

After creating an account, participants must take an introductory survey to establish personal baseline levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. A warning will pop up after finishing the survey if you have particularly high levels of any these three factors. The site’s module on anxiety includes educational information and various relaxation techniques, and the module on depression includes tools for understanding behavior change and the reduction of negative thoughts.

A mood check-in log asks how you’re feeling, where you are, who you’re around, and what you’re doing. For ease of use, there’s also a mood check app available for iOS and Android. Users can also choose to enter an emergency contact if desired.

Health Promotion and Wellness offer free wellness services that incorporate WellTrack and its new tools as part of their behavior change model as well. WellTrack is just part of a variety of new and expanded services CAPS is able to provide after receiving funding from a private donor and from Student Fee allocations.