Davis runs counseling through Student Health and Counseling Services (SHCS) — prepaid by fees, with counselors embedded in some colleges and residence areas so the first conversation can happen where you already are. Brief-treatment applies; ask your intake counselor: "What's the typical session count, and who manages my referral out?"
The Davis-specific math: it's a college town with a modest local private-practice bench, which makes telehealth the main event — one California license works statewide →, so Sacramento's fuller, cheaper bench (fees often $100–180) is twenty minutes away or zero by video. UC SHIP covers off-campus behavioral health either way, and SHCS referral staff know which Sacramento practices actually answer email.
On a parent's plan: the EOB privacy fix → exists in California law. Money thin — TA stipend, ag-econ realities: Medi-Cal runs on your current income →; Yolo County's access line is (888) 965-6647. And the quarter-system pressure spike is predictable: book ahead of finals, not during — waitlists work like this →.
Sources: UC Davis SHCS — shcs.ucdavis.edu · UC SHIP — ucop.edu · TherapyCalifornia fee dataset, August 2026.