Dartmouth Student Government brings free and unlimited mental health counseling to campus

Teletherapy provider UWIL offers online mental health counseling to students in a flexible way, following student advocacy.

as if Matthew Curiel
| 31 minutes ago

Beginning Nov. 1, all Dartmouth students will have unlimited access to Uwill, a student teletherapy provider that offers licensed mental health counseling online. advertisement from the college.

The new teletherapy service comes with other mental health measures, including extending the non-recording option deadline to Oct. 10 and the Oct. 21 day of care, according to Dartmouth Student Government President David Millman ’23. He added that DSG has provided support for teletherapy services to address the mental health needs of students Death of recent students.

According to Millman, students can connect with the counselor they choose to work with via video, chat or messaging, and have 24-hour crisis support. This includes graduate students as well as students on time-out, personal leave, or medical leave. Although UWIL is a global service, the college only offers UWIL teletherapy services in the U.S., said Millman and DSG Vice President Jessica Chiriboga ’24.

“It’s a great way to protect the mental health of our community,” Sri Korandla ’26 said. “Therapy is definitely something that’s good for your overall well-being. It’s not something you should only do if you’re having trouble. It’s a good idea to spend your week with a therapist.”

Michael London, founder and CEO of UWIL, said there are two main components of UWIL teletherapy services offered to Dartmouth students: “Umatch” counseling and “Uhelp” emergency crisis communication.

London said at Umach students can decide which advisor they want to work with based on their needs and preferences. From there, students can schedule as many sessions as they want with their advisor. If a student decides their advisor isn’t a good fit, they can change their advisor at any time, London said.

Alternatively, Uhelp offers 24-hour crisis support that connects students directly with a trauma-trained therapist, London said. While other emergency communications have an automated phone system or other automated technology, London said Will “eliminated all the confusion associated with that.” [intakers and phone trees]He said. If the student uses UHelp, a UWIL staff member will ask them to consider receiving therapy from UWIL.

According to Millman and Chiriboga, DSG has been discussing the implementation of teletherapy since the fall of 2021. Former Student Council President Jennifer Qian 22 and Vice President Maggie Johnston 22 explained that they began the process of seeking teletherapy services. From this, DSG collaborated with the Dartmouth Mental Health Alliance and Dartmouth Counseling Director Heather Earl to facilitate discussions around the logistics of implementing teletherapy services. In these meetings, according to Millman, they rotate through requirements such as meeting with college president Phil Halon, provost David Kotz, and interim dean of the college Scott Brown.

“I think it’s important to see here that student advocacy can work,” Millman said. “This was a completely student project driven by student interest.”

Chiriboga explained that when it comes to providing support for teletherapy services, DSG needs to decide which service will best serve the needs of students in the college.

“We looked at TimelyMD. We looked at UWIL and we looked at other options and tried to decide what was best for us,” Chiriboga said. “We decided to choose Uwill because he was so good. It offered 24/7 teletherapy service at no cost, and it was unlimited.

Although Dartmouth will accept UWIL’s services as of Nov. 1, Millman said there is still room for student input.

“We’re constantly evaluating the program. We don’t want this to be a bad experience for students,” Millman said.

Millman said students who want to share their experiences and opinions with the UWIL can do so directly with Dartmouth’s Student Government or Counseling Center.

Chiriboga said UWIL’s implementation is not intended to be used as the sole resource for addressing students’ mental health needs.

“As a friend, as a classmate, as a peer, I can never give or advise – one solution, because one resource does not work for everyone,” Chiriboga said. “I encourage students to be kind and talk to their friends and loved ones about the different options that might be right for them.”