Today’s higher education faculty need to understand that their students are facing more pressure than ever before suffering from mental health issues as a result of the current pandemic and other social stresses. As a result, students increasingly turn to online support to address their anxiety, loneliness and depression, a recent study found.
In fact, almost 80 percent of students who joined Togetherall – an online mental health service that partners with universities and colleges in the UK, U.S., Canada and New Zealand – cited depression as their motivation, the report said. In addition, 70% reported feelings of anxiety. Faculty are encouraged to share this free offering with their students.
Higher education faculty and instructors need to realize this and approach their courses with more understanding.
"There's been a sea change in how people talk about mental health," Matthew McEvoy, senior vice president and general manager of Togetherall in North America told Fierce Education in an interview. "The pandemic has been that tipping point and we have seen a skyrocketing in our membership."
Between March and April, new-user registrations in Canada surged 234% compared with the prior month, Togetherall reported. In March 2020, posts on the site increased 90% versus March 2019, according to the provider.
However, some stigma does continue, said McEvoy. Togetherall's peer-to-peer approach, which includes moderation by mental-health professionals, is designed to remove any negative connotations by demonstrating the commonality of psychological issues like depression and anxiety among the population, he said. Professionals escalate and intervene if students need additional assistance, such as one-on-one therapy, medication or other treatment, McEvoy added.
That's where partnerships such as Togetherall's newly announced relationship with ProtoCall Services come in: Students also now have complementary access to ProtoCall. A provider of behavioral health crisis and contact center services to colleges and universities with call centers across the country, ProtoCall delivers self-help assessments, therapeutic tools and on-site mental-health services to students in crisis.
"The integration with Togetherall was always going to be a great partnership but now, as students struggle to stay connected during this global crisis, adapting and deploying new tools for building community and managing the stressors of isolation is more important that we could have ever imagined," said Phil Evans, ProtoCall CEO, in a statement.
Togetherall works with about 325 institutions across its market, giving approximately 3 million students free access to its services, he said. Higher-educational facilities pay for the offering; students pay nothing to join the community, noted McEvoy.
Access for all
Almost half the students Togetherall polled have no regular contact with a healthcare provider for the issues that led them to the service. In part, that could be due to the difficulty finding a therapist, psychologist or psychiatrist locally or one that fits in with students' often full schedules.
One Florida university senior, who requested anonymity, could not find a mental-health professional to help with her depression and anxiety within an hour of her home. Having finally locating a therapist on her insurance plan, the business major had to wait six weeks for an appointment, she told Fierce Education.
"It is about access. At our core, it's about democratizing mental health," said McEvoy. "The great job [the industry has] done about destigmatizing mental health is creating another challenge – and that is access."
Data delivery
Because Togetherall – and similar services – are online, they gather data on all who use the offerings. The insight garnered from its anonymized, deidentified data sheds light onto common trends and concerns across student bodies, McEvoy said.
For example, when Covid 19 first struck the world, between 75% and 80% of students' concerns were about the virus itself, he said. As lockdowns began, there was worry about isolation, including missing their usual support systems and apprehension around common routines like going to the gym and visiting friends.
Later came disquiet about the financial impact. Students were apprehensive about short-term implications – their bartending gig or job at the mall – as well as long-term prospects, including those graduating into an uncertain world, dealing with student debt and no idea how they would find a career position during mass layoffs and work-from-home situations, according to McEvoy. There also were those agonizing over immediate issues like housing and food insecurities. Some were stuck in dorms, others were unable to go to family homes, while others were alone in apartments they could not afford and some were with families when they had believed they would be living the student life at that time in their lives, he noted.
"We do have a research arm," said McEvoy. "We are a social-impact organization. The aggregate [data] is interesting in how it can inform."