CSCU President Terrence Cheng said in late August the system is partnering with TimelyMD, a telehealth service provider headquartered in Texas, to provide all community college students access to TalkNow, an “on-demand mental health support system.” Students will also be able to access unlimited health consultations, in addition to 12 individual counseling sessions each year. The two-year contract costs a total of $659,223 and is funded through federal coronavirus relief aid.
“Access to health services — and particularly mental health services — has long been a major challenge for too many community college students,” President Cheng said in the announcement. “By utilizing telehealth technology, students will now have the opportunity to easily and safely get the care they need from practitioners with specific expertise on meeting the unique needs of college students. This is a major expansion of mental health services, and it is sure to make the college experience more manageable for the students we serve.”
Connecticut State Community College Interim President David Levinson added: “In recent years, the demand for student mental health supports has increased dramatically. We have taken some very important steps, including partnerships with local providers. However, this is the largest systemic investment to date and will provide much-needed access to critical health care services to all of our students.”
According to CSCU, the community colleges have staff members that handle some intervention and crisis counseling services, but lack providers for “ongoing and long-term mental health counseling.”
Lisa Slade, director of counseling and wellness at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport, said she had “very mixed feelings” when she learned of the partnership. While it may work for some students, the counselor said it should not be considered a replacement for access to on-campus, licensed professionals.
Current on-campus mental health service providers are “experiencing the trauma of our students first hand ... and the sad part is, we don’t have what we need to service them,” said Slade during a press conference Tuesday hosted by the Congress of CT Community Colleges and AFT Connecticut. She described the counseling office on her campus as understaffed and lacking the software resources needed for effective case management.
In addition to providing mental health services, Slade said community college counselors often work with local health centers, emergency rooms and police officers who perform wellness checks on students. For example, Slade said she made sure emergency medical care reached a student in crisis late Monday night, after the individual texted her.
“We have to strengthen those relationships before we even think about expanding to incorporate outside services,” she said, adding that some students who do not have reliable internet access at home may struggle to use online services regularly.
Ruth Gonzalez, director of the Office of Student & Community Life at Northwestern Connecticut Community College in Winsted, said she hopes the partnership between CSCU and TimelyMD will “create the much needed opportunity” for conversations with on-campus staff.
“We are still here. We are not very many, but we are on campus and we are trying to provide... as best we can,” she said. “Let’s take this opportunity to continue the dialogue and ... to bring in the services that our students need in the right way.”
CSCU spokesperson Leigh Appleby said in an email the virtual programming is “just one component of our overall strategy to provide these services” and it is “also a recognition that face-to-face services on-ground at our institutions may be limited or interrupted during this academic year as we confront unforeseen variants, plateaus in vaccination rates, and other factors.”
“The demand for services [has] dramatically increased for our students as they grapple with struggling to remain in college, job loss and disruption, illness, [and] caring for school-aged children,” he said. “In addition, these services will be provided after hours and on weekends for our students, increasing availability and access. CSCU acknowledges the tremendous work [of] our staff and remains committed to an on-ground presence, but must respond to the overwhelming need right now.”
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