The state’s first-of-its-kind partnership with a teletherapy platform is long-lasting, boosting the capacity of campus mental health services and serving as a test case for how universities can take advantage of the one-time funding infusion from the American Rescue Plan.
The experiment began a year ago, when New Jersey committed $10 million in federal funding to provide local higher education institutions with free teletherapy options through the mental health company UWill, a contract that was extended this year through the spring of 2025.
The state’s Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education and New Jersey Commissioner of Higher Education Brian Bridges made the announcement at the New Jersey Higher Education Mental Health Summit in January, held at Seton Hall University, one of the majority of universities in the state that have chosen to partner with Uwill.
Dr. Diane Aguero Trotter, director of Seton Hall University’s Counseling and Psychological Services department, said Uwill has been trying to make students aware of its services through its own mental health awareness efforts, which include email blasts and papers posted around campus.
“And a lot of students use Uwill directly,” she said, “It’s meeting a need. … It’s providing a needed service to students who might not otherwise be able to come to our (counseling) center.”
Those in the mental health field tend to agree that today’s young people have largely outgrown the same level of stigma surrounding therapy that plagued previous generations, but barriers remain, Aguero-Trotter said.
Some students don’t want their peers to see them walking into the campus psychological services office, and she suspects that may have some impact on why about 80 percent of students who enroll in the all-online Uwill platform have never been to a counseling center.
“(So) we definitely need to provide links to services for students and make it a norm for them to seek help,” she said. “(Young people) are committed to their mental health and their well-being, and I think it would go a long way for the state to really address this.”
The university will receive all the support it can get when it comes to mental health services. Seton Hall University has also used grant funding allocated from the New Jersey state budget over the past few years to build a suicide prevention, education and outreach program called “Great Minds Dare to Care,” which Aguero-Trotter is excited about.
That means campus-based mental health leaders are pleased to hear that the more than 10,000 students benefiting from Uwill across the Garden State will continue to have access to teletherapy, crisis intervention and wellness programs over the coming year.
“We’re doing everything we can to address the needs of students who have acute mental health needs,” Aguero-Trotter says, “so another way Uwill contributes in our department is by also serving students who don’t have acute needs. Their support allows us to further increase the capacity we have to help high-risk individuals who may require intensive, long-term treatment.”
While students may be familiar with digital options, some still prefer in-person therapy services. Students may not have the privacy or reliable internet needed for remote care, especially if they live in on-campus dorms.
Dr. Jacqueline Friedman Lombard, director of counseling and psychological services at Montclair State University, said there are other situations where students can’t find time to schedule appointments during peak times.
“Something we really wanted to take advantage of is that Uwill offers teletherapy for students who want to schedule appointments after closing during the week or on weekends,” she says. “Students like to book (these services) at a time that’s convenient for them, so they’re happy to have increased access.”
In fact, New Jersey education officials reported that one-third of appointments made in New Jersey on the Uwill platform were made during off-peak hours, and a survey of counseling staff at educational institutions that partner with Uwill revealed that nearly 80% felt they were receiving a new level of after-hours mental health support for students.
“This service is important for students who are primarily on a commuter campus, but also for students who live out of state and are returning home,” Friedman-Lombard said. “While our counseling center is happy to offer (distance) appointments, we need to be licensed in the state where our clients reside in order to serve those students. So if a student goes to Pennsylvania for the summer, we can’t provide services during that time.”
She added that if there is one drawback she has heard from students, it is that the sessions are limited to 30 minutes, but she has received more positive than negative feedback from students about the sessions.
“Just having access to unlimited sessions is a big deal,” Friedman-Lombard says, “In our counseling model and other models, individuals get an average of six sessions, and then those who want longer-term care move from individual therapy to group therapy. But some students really want individual therapy for a long period of time.”
One doesn’t have to read between the lines very much: College campus mental health leaders will readily acknowledge that students need long-term relationships with therapists because more students are struggling with mental health and substance abuse issues.
Dr. Amy Hock, associate director of counseling and psychological services at Rowan University and a licensed psychologist, said data showed increases in anxiety, depression and trauma leading up to the pandemic, and the increases have become even more dramatic since the pandemic.
“We know that social connections are one of the best predictors of well-being, yet students have lost those connections during the pandemic and reported high levels of loneliness,” she said. “Even after the pandemic, students are coming to campus and finding it harder to initiate social interactions, overcome social anxiety, and feel a sense of belonging. It may be even harder for the most marginalized students in our community.”
Hock said this situation is exacerbated by students struggling to keep up academically in the midst of all these changes.Rowan University has responded by putting in place a system that allows faculty and staff to reach out to students who are often at risk of dropping out without mental health support and crisis intervention services.
Engaging students who are already feeling isolated and socially disconnected isn’t always easy, but it’s necessary, campus mental health staff say.
“Whether we’re connecting with students virtually or in person, we have to build this connection and overcome the inequities around access to health care that have become evident during the pandemic,” Hock said. “At the university to which we are responsible, there is a concept of well-being for all. We don’t just want our students to get by, we really want them to thrive in the face of adversity.”
Fighting Bullying
Another aspect of school life that state leaders believe needs to be addressed is bullying.
And this isn’t the typical recessional abuse that John Paul Simon, director of school clinical interventions at the nonprofit CarePlus New Jersey, describes as the mental-health-endangering bullying happening today.
“A lot of it’s not happening in the traditional way,” he said. “In fact, we’re seeing a surge in reported incidents through TikTok and Instagram post conflicts. The bullying environment itself is pervasive.”
Simon is deputy director of the NJ4S Bargain Hub, one of 15 school district-focused hub-and-spoke organizations established across the state with funding allocated in Gov. Phil Murphy’s budget. State leaders recognize that a mental health crisis is emerging at all education levels in the wake of the pandemic, creating a need for programs like those offered by NJ4S.
Simon noted that months of pandemic isolation and reduced communication have exacerbated the bullying problem in New Jersey schools and that state leaders recognize the need to address it.
Of course, this is easier said than done.
“It’s easy to fall into a simplistic approach of just eliminating the bullying behavior, treating the bully victim and punishing them, and that wraps everything up nicely,” Simon says, “but it gets to the core issue of bullying, which is where communication gaps and conflict are so prevalent, and it’s about how we as a system foster different types of communication and continually provide opportunities for young students to have spaces where they can foster healthy levels of interaction.”
Simon’s organization is interested in systemic approaches to supporting the development of New Jersey’s youth, which could include interventions that connect students who are exhibiting mental health symptoms with existing community resources.
And Simon suggests that businesses have their own responsibility in this systemic approach to solving bullying.
“Businesses today, especially those with a customer base of young students, are being asked to become more socially conscious about what contributes to the welfare of children,” he said. “Part of this is asking whether our platforms are contributing to the occurrence of bullying or poor self-image among young people, or encouraging unrealistic expectations of success and social acceptance.”
