Decker Student Health Services Center (DSHSC) provides evidence-based psychiatric consultation and treatment, which recognizes and promotes the importance of students being connected with counseling services. Clinical research has shown that the combination of counseling with psychiatric medication is more effective than either of the approaches by themselves. In most cases, students will be directed to counseling before a medication evaluation is scheduled unless they are already established with a therapist/counselor. 

DSHSC does not provide emergent or walk-in appointments for new patients. If your concern is acute or emergent and you need to speak to someone right away, call the University Counseling Center at 607-777-2772 or the UHS Binghamton General Hospital CPEP (Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program) crisis line at 607-762-2302 or 911 to access emergency services. 

DSHSC Psychiatric Services also offers eating disorder evaluation appointments.

For more information about ADHD continuity of care and the medical withdrawal process, see below. Additional intake forms are available on the resources and forms webpage.

Making new psychiatry appointments

In order to schedule an initial appointment, a patient must first complete our initial appointment request form. This can be done in three ways:  

  1. Complete the Psychiatric Initial Appointment Request Form and upload it to the patient portal using the folder “Mental Health Forms”.  
  2. Send a message requesting the form to "PSYCHMSG" in the patient portal .
  3. Call 607-777-3711  if you are unable to access the health portal.  

Once you have completed the appointment request form, our providers will respond to you in the health portal with requests for any additional information/forms we will need for the evaluation process, or we will schedule your for a treatment coordination appointment to have a case manager review your options for treatment on– and off–campus. We will handle all initial appointment scheduling through the health portal messaging system for your privacy and convenience. If you cannot access your health portal account, please call us at 607-777-3711 and leave a message under option #4. 

Initial appointment expectations

Initial visits are IN PERSON ONLY and are 90 minutes in length. You may meet with our psychiatrist, a psychiatric nurse practitioner or a psychiatric nurse practitioner student working with Dr. Mazzeo. The appointments start with a mandatory meeting to complete evaluation paperwork with our staff and are followed by meeting with the provider.

If you miss your paperwork appointment or are more than 15 minutes late to the scheduled appointment, you may have to reschedule. If you miss or are late to two intake appointments, you will be referred off campus.

Follow-up appointments

You are expected to keep your scheduled follow-up appointments or reschedule with 24 hours' notice. Follow-up appointments will be 15 to 30 minutes in length and are not meant to replace therapy/counseling sessions; they are focused on medication response, side effects and options/recommendations for treatment.

To reschedule an appointment, send us a message on the patient portal to PSYCHMSG or call 607-777-3711.

ADHD

We encourage students to continue with current behavioral health providers by telehealth and over breaks if possible for continuity of care as our services are linked to being a current registered student and not available once a student leaves the University. This is especially recommended for those who are prescribed ADHD medication. If your current home provider refuses to continue prescribing using telehealth or break time appointments, we often refer to local family practice clinics including United Health Services and Lourdes for continuing well-established medication regimens.

If you suspect ADHD but have not been diagnosed, we refer students first to local psychologists to complete psychological testing to support an ADHD diagnosis. We do not do new ADHD diagnostic evaluations on campus. We can provide you a list of local psychologists who do these types of evaluations at your request.

Withdrawals

The Dean of Students (DOS) Office processes student withdrawals and re-enrollments. Students must have their medical/psychological providers complete and send in the withdrawal and re-enrollment forms. The forms are reviewed by DSHSC and/or the University Counseling Center (UCC). DSHSC and UCC send an opinion about the appeals to the DOS Office. The DOS Office finalizes the action.