Reed Psychiatric Care Fund

Funds are available, through the UVA Medical Alumni Association, for medical students in need of outpatient psychiatric care. This service will be free of charge and kept strictly confidential. Psychiatric care is provided through the Reed Psychiatric Care Fund.

To participate in this program, a medical student must first contact University of Virginia Student Health, Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS):

Phone: (434)243-5150
Email: sth-caps@virginia.edu
Website: studenthealth.virginia.edu/caps

Students should request a brief screening appointment, which is a scheduled phone call with a CAPS clinician. Eligible students will then be referred for access to the Reed Psychiatric Care Fund. After referral, the student may contact the UVA Medical Alumni Association to get registered and to receive a list of the Reed Fund participating providers.

** Please note that the Reed Psychiatric Care Fund does not provide for emergency care. If you have need for immediate care, please contact Student Health or go to the nearest emergency room. **

The fund provides for two initial evaluation sessions with a psychiatrist and a maximum of 12 subsequent 45-minute sessions in a 12-month period. If you and the psychiatrist determine shorter sessions are appropriate, reimbursement will be provided for up to the amount equivalent to the charges that would accrue from 12 sessions of 45 minutes each.

Your psychiatrist will submit their bill directly to the UVA Medical Alumni Association and Medical School Foundation to receive payment. If medication is part of your treatment, we request that participating psychiatrists be generous with samples and utilize pharmaceutical patient assistance programs when appropriate. If neither method is successful, there is a prescription reimbursement provision.

Please contact us for more information.

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When I was a medical student at the University of Virginia from 1964-1968, I suffered an episode of major depression and was sexually abused by a psychotherapist. I wanted to receive help from a faculty member but could not afford to pay for care in the physician’s private practice. I have wanted for many years to turn these negative experiences into something positive. I hope that, as a result of the program my husband and I have made possible, no other medical student at UVA will ever be in the situation I faced.

I completed my residency in psychiatry at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in 1972 and a fellowship at Colorado State Hospital in 1973. I developed a successful private practice in adult and geriatric psychiatry. I have been able to accomplish these achievements despite several recurrences of my depressive disorder. The advent of the SSRI’s and other antidepressants has helped me tremendously. I continue antidepressant therapy to prevent further exacerbations. Unfortunately, a great deal of prejudice and ignorance regarding mental health, and its appropriate treatment, continues. We, therefore, are providing this treatment in a way that ensures complete confidentiality.

My husband, Larry, and I hope you get the care you need in order to pursue a mentally healthy life.

Sincerely,

Ramona L. Booze Reed, MD, and Larry N. Reed, MSEE