By Faith Jarrell
Student Life Editor
Washington College is continuing to work with Mantra Health to expand the resources offered to students. For the past three years, WC offered mental health counseling to students through a partnership with Mantra Health, a digital mental healthcare organization.
According to their website, Mantra Health “is on a mission to provide young adults with accessible, equitable, and quality mental health and wellness solutions.”
The organization not only serves WC but other universities and places of higher education across the United States.
The collaboration between WC and Mantra Health started with a comment from the student body.
“One of the recommendations based on student feedback was to provide additional resources for students, including community partnerships and offering telehealth services. Mantra Health has been a welcome addition to the services we offer to students at Washington College,” Roland Jennings, Clinical Coordinator of Counseling Services, said.
Mantra Health allows students to attend six telehealth appointments at no cost. If a student decides to continue using Mantra Health’s services after these six sessions, they may continue doing so after inputting their own insurance information.
This year, the partnership expanded to include further counseling options as well as coaches in order to further aid students in need of resources. According to Jennings and Dean of Students Greg Krikorian, these new options include on-demand emotional support, emotional wellness coaching, and self-care courses.
With on-demand emotional support, a student can gain access to a mental health professional within 10 minutes or less. This aspect is especially helpful for students who need access to counselors between noon and midnight, which is when this service is offered.
For those who are not sure about therapy, coaching provides an eight to 12-week teletherapy program to try out. Another option is self-care courses, which are self-guided sessions for students to complete independently.
Along with that, the website still offers traditional therapy, offered over 45-minute video calls which can be scheduled by the student.
Posters around campus list a myriad of details about Mantra Health and how to start. The use of said resource is even taught during training for Residential Assistants.
One R.A, sophomore Ella Kozlowski, believes the resource to be “helpful.”
“Since the counseling center closes at 5 p.m., and students often have problems late at night when they need instant assistance, [Mantra Health] can help,” Kozlowski said.
For many different reasons, face-to-face therapy may not work with everyone. Even if this is not the case, teletherapy and telemedicine have benefits of their own. In an article written by wellness intern Ruby Baxley ’23, she disccuses said perks.
According to Baxley, “[Telehealth] provides an opportunity for students to seek support from the comfort of their own space. One student explained they appreciate the accessibility of telemedicine. As college students, it is difficult to establish consistent support.”
In order to access your Mantra Health account, go to Mantra Health’s website and use your WC login.
Photo courtesy of Mantra Health
Photo Caption: Mantra Health is a website that provides telehealth appointments and virtual therapy to online users.