Therapy for University of Chicago students
Ongoing weekly therapy off campus — in Chicago or online — with a practice whose main population is college students and young adults, undergraduate and graduate alike.
Your U-SHIP covers this
The University Student Health Insurance Plan is administered by UnitedHealthcare Student Resources, and Mindtude is in network with UnitedHealthcare. You are using your in-network mental health benefit rather than paying up front and claiming it back.
U-SHIP treats providers inside UChicago Student Wellness differently from those outside it, and the exact split changes with the plan year — so rather than quote a number that may be out of date by the time you read it, send us your member ID and we will check what you would owe. UChicago’s Student Wellness insurance pages (opens in a new tab) carry the current terms.
How we check your coverageOne thing worth knowing about claims
To bill any insurance plan for therapy, including U-SHIP, a therapist has to put a diagnosis on the claim. That is how insurance-funded mental health care works everywhere, not a quirk of your plan — but people are often surprised by it, so it is better said now than discovered later. If you would rather that did not happen, paying privately is a legitimate choice and costs $200–250 per session.
Alongside Student Wellness, not instead of it
UChicago Student Wellness and TimelyCare are on campus, included, and genuinely useful — particularly when you need to be seen quickly. Students come to us for the other thing: the same therapist every week over a sustained stretch, appointments that do not reset between quarters, and an hour that happens somewhere other than the institution they are already spending their whole life inside.
In an emergency, call or text 988 or go to the nearest emergency department. This page is about ongoing therapy, which is a different thing.
What students actually come in with
Academic pressure
A culture where everyone seems to be coping and nobody says otherwise, on a calendar that does not let up.
Anxiety
Before a midterm, before a meeting with an advisor, and in the hours you are supposed to be asleep.
Burnout and perfectionism
Standards that got you here and are now costing more than they return.
Identity and belonging
First-generation, international, or simply far from the people who know you well.
ADHD
Reading loads and unstructured research time that punish the strategies you used to rely on.
Graduate-school pressure
Advisors, funding, isolation, and work that never has a clean stopping point.
Everything we treat covers each of these in more depth, including what the first few sessions tend to look like.
Who you would be working with
- Devi Natarajan, LCPC — over fifteen years across behavioural health hospital, community mental health and private practice settings.
- Trained in both child and adult psychology; certified in ADHD and in clinical anxiety treatment.
- Works primarily with the young adult population at UChicago, Northwestern and other Chicagoland universities.
- In person in Chicago, or online anywhere in Illinois.
Start with a free consultation
A short call, no charge, to work out whether this is a fit. Send your U-SHIP details with it and we will confirm your coverage first.