Attention-grabbing articles, backed by research.

Mantra Health surveyed counseling center directors and clinicians at colleges and universities in the US about their experience with burnout in the Fall 2020 semester. What follows is key findings from the survey data, as well as expert recommendations by Drs. David Walden and Harry Rockland-Miller on reducing employee burnout at college counseling centers as the Covid-19 pandemic continues.

Download our Provider Burnout Whitepaper here today.

Data surveyed, collected, and contextualized from counseling centers and clinicians across 120 schools. 

Signs and symptoms of burnout that may be prevalent on your campus. 

Implications and recommendations for providing quality care and keeping a healthy counseling center culture.


Whitepaper: Provider Burnout in Counseling Centers due to Covid-19

Whether your school is a statewide system across multiple campuses or a rural liberal arts college, staffing psychiatry providers at campus counseling centers has proven to be an enormous challenge.

Nearly 25% of freshmen arrive on campus having already been prescribed psychiatric medication, and primary care practitioners are only a partial solution to manage complicated psychiatric cases.

Working with urgency to meet this student demand, Mantra Health is now offering a limited-time discount on our telepsychiatry Managed Care Program for this upcoming spring. When your university adopts Mantra Health from January 18th through the end of February, your counseling center immediately benefits from quality, evidence-based mental healthcare that works as an extension of your current resources.

Let's discuss telepsychiatry for your school. 

How does Mantra’s telepsychiatry Managed Care program expand upon your counseling center’s existing operations?

Unparalleled student engagement. More than 95% of referred students make it to their first telepsychiatry appointment, and remain engaged throughout the course of care through ongoing video appointments, messaging, progress tracking and psychoeducational content. All of our psychiatric providers are passionate about treating young adults, and collaborate with on-campus counselors to reach higher clinical outcomes – and increased student retention.

Close the care loop. Colleges often lose track of students once they’re referred to community providers. Our Collaboration Portal facilitates direct messaging communication between our provider group and your school’s care team – so there’s no medical information falling through the cracks. 

An answer to recruitment limitations. We hire top providers from across the country, with 50% of our providers identifying as people of color (primarily Hispanic and Black) or specialize in treating LGBTQ+ populations. Our flexible staffing model makes it easy to dedicate providers who expand your care hours to nights, weekends, and over breaks.

"Mantra has become the go-to resource for psychiatry needs in our students, and we do so with confidence knowing that Mantra providers offer a holistic approach to their care, including both medication management as well as wellness coaching and lifestyle changes." Dr. Keith Kokseng, Associate Director, Counseling & Wellness Center, New College of Florida 

Launch Mantra’s Telepsychiatry Program at your school this spring. Click here to speak with a member of our team and learn how Mantra can enhance psychiatric care at your counseling center.

Mantra Health’s Spring Telepsychiatry Program

Sitting here in my new home “office” (read corner of my bedroom - the only vaguely quiet spot in a house with four kids doing online school) and gazing out at the wind swept Colorado prairie, rather than the ivy-clad university arts quad I had grown used to seeing through my office window, it’s hard to grasp just how much has changed in the past two semesters. Even my colleagues who are still on campus are sitting alone in socially distanced offices with little of the usual hum of learning, energy, and growth that drew so many of us to go into college mental health in the first place. Yet in spite of the students staying off campus or heading home early for the winter break, there remains a lot of work to be done.

Before the pandemic began, universities were already struggling to keep up with demand for mental health care. According to the 2019 Healthy Minds Study, which surveyed over 62,000 college and university students across the United States, 36% of students reported moderate to major depression, more than one third demonstrated scores consistent with an anxiety disorder as measured by the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) and 14% reported having experienced suicidal ideation in the past year (1). Having spent the last ten plus years working in college mental health, I’ve seen firsthand the struggle to staff psychiatric providers in adequate numbers to address the need. To put it bluntly, most counseling centers in higher ed just don’t have the space or the resources to hire their way out of this, and, nationwide, there is a shortage of psychiatric providers (2) overall. Locating and recruiting specialists, especially those from diverse backgrounds, is particularly problematic in rural areas, which is where many colleges and universities are located. Given we know that students of color and those that identify as LGBTQ, two groups particularly unlikely to seek treatment for mental illness (3), access services more often when they are able to meet with providers who look like them or have similar identities (4), it’s crucial that we find better solutions.

For more straightforward mental health concerns on campus, primary care providers (PCPs) can certainly play a vital role. With their broad background in treating most other general health conditions, PCPs are uniquely positioned to decrease the so-called “silo-ing” of mental health care and can often build on their existing rapport with patients. Although I am grateful for the many PCP’s I work with who help increase access to mental health care, non-psychiatric providers, along with everything else they are required to know and do, may not have the training or the time in their schedules to diagnose and treat significant mental illness adequately (5). In fact, nationwide, only 13% of patients treated for mental health by PCPs are receiving “minimally adequate” care that aligns with evidence-based guidelines (6). Furthermore, a higher rate of patients are referred to mental health providers after being diagnosed with a mental health condition than when given other primary (physical health) diagnoses (7), suggesting that PCPs recognise the need for access to specialists with more extensive training in the art of both diagnosing and treating mental illnesses. 

With as many as 24% of college students arriving on campus already having been prescribed psychiatric medication (8), colleges and universities are needing to think outside of the box to find the resources they need to keep students well and performing their best in school. For this, telehealth is a promising and economic approach to increasing access to a diverse group of mental health practitioners specifically experienced in helping transitional aged youth. If using telehealth, regardless of the location of the school itself, campus health centers can recruit highly trained candidates from essentially anywhere nationwide, since providers can practice from any state as long as they are licensed in the state in which the student is located at the time of the appointment. This also makes it possible to offer continuous ongoing care even as students move on and off campus, or home for holidays or summers, which are times that have historically led to disruptions in traditional campus-based services. With the onset of COVID-19, many, if not all, universities with college counseling centers have had to  switch over to virtual care at least temporarily, using whatever providers were previously on-site. For those who need help maintaining or growing these services moving forward, there are now telepsychiatry companies focused on making specially trained college health providers available to colleges and universities.

Telemental health, which includes various modalities of communicating and receiving mental health care virtually, also has the ability to support patient self management by offering modules or links to resources such as psychoeducational handouts, empirically supported self-help apps, and crisis intervention services, in addition to real-time video appointments. This may be especially useful for colleges and universities that have switched to a stepped care model in order to maximize the limited resources available on campus. Telepsychiatry can be part of platforms that offer the option of incorporating secure messaging to address side effect questions and treatment goal check ins. As providers, we know that when patients can easily access us with questions or concerns, compliance increases, and the therapeutic relationship, an essential component of the success of mental health treatment, is strengthened. 

Although telehealth has been shown to be convenient and affordable, it must be proven effective if it is to become a permanent part of college mental healthcare after the pandemic. Fortunately, even before telehealth was widely implemented on college campuses, data strongly supported virtual care as providing equal or, at times, better treatment than could have been available in person (9). According to the APA online telepsychiatry toolkit “telepsychiatry is equivalent to in-person care in diagnostic accuracy, treatment effectiveness, and patient satisfaction” (10). Indeed, some of the most common mental health diagnoses in college aged youth have been successfully and safely treated via telehealth, including anxiety disorders, PTSD, Major Depressive Disorder, eating disorders, and substance use disorders (11, 12, 13). Outside of medication management, which, of course, is only one piece of treating mental illness, both video-based cognitive behavioral therapy and group therapy as well as other online modalities have demonstrated similar success as face-to-face care (14).

As college and university counseling centers consider continuing online care, it is important to remember that telehealth is not just doing the same thing as when we were talking with patients face-to-face. Special attention must be given to asking about and observing the things that are less apparent when interviewing patients virtually. The smell of alcohol or poor hygiene, physical exam findings such as tremor, involuntary movements, even tears may be harder to notice when the patient and provider aren’t sitting in the same room. Clear protocols for high risk or crisis situations, which may develop quickly and without much warning, need to be in place as do plans to help students access in-person or higher levels of care when appropriate. Finally, the development of rapport can take extra care, skill and attention, although seeing into a patient’s actual home or meeting their favorite pet during a session, can sometimes actually make it easier to find a personal connection (I’ve seen more cute dogs than I ever did when working on campus).

Back in my improvised office, despite having to adjust to working from home, I’m becoming more and more convinced that continuing telehealth services on campus may just be the best way to fill the ongoing gap in care. It is an effective way to provide the treatment that students need to thrive, without compromising outcomes, and gives more students access to providers who look like them or who can be available at times that suit their schedule. I hope online care remains a permanent option for students long after the pandemic is over.

(1) Eisenberg D., Lipson S.K. The Healthy Minds Study. 2019. Accessed from: https://healthymindsnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/HMS_national-2018-19.pdf

(2) National Council Medical Director Institute. The Psychiatric Shortage: Causes and Solutions. Published March 28, 2017. Accessed on April 20, 2020 at: https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Psychiatric-Shortage_National-Council-.pdf?daf=375ateTbd56

(3) Chen, J. A., Stevens, C., Wong, S. H., & Liu, C. H. (2019). Psychiatric symptoms and diagnoses among US college students: A comparison by race and ethnicity. Psychiatric services, 70(6), 442-449

(4) Cabral, R. R., & Smith, T. B. Racial/ethnic matching of clients and therapists in mental health services: A meta-analytic review of preferences, perceptions, and outcomes. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 2011; 58(4), 537

(5) Fraser, K., Oyama, O. Knowledge of Psychotropics and Prescribing Preferences of Family Physicians: A Preliminary Study. Acad Psychiatry. 2013; 37, 325–328. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ap.12090160

(6) Wang PS, Lane M, Olfson M, Pincus HA, Wells KB, Kessler RC. Twelve-Month Use of Mental Health Services in the United States: Results From the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2005;62(6):629–640. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.62.6.629

(7) Geissler K.H., Zeber J.E. Primary Care Physician Referral Patterns for Behavioral Health Diagnoses. Psychiatric Services 2020 71:4, 389-392

(8) Eisenberg D., Lipson S.K. The Healthy Minds Study. 2019. Accessed from: https://healthymindsnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/HMS_national-2018-19.pdf

(9) Carleton KE, Patel UB, Stein D, Mou D, Mallow A, Blackmore MA. Enhancing the scalability of the collaborative care model for depression using mobile technology. Translational Behavioral Medicine. 2020; 10(3): 573–579. doi:10.1093/tbm/ibz146

(10) American Psychiatric Association. Telepsychiatry Toolkit. Accessed from: https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/telepsychiatry/toolkit

(11) King S.C., Richner K.A., Tuliao, A.P., et al. A comparison between telehealth and face-to-face delivery of a brief alcohol intervention for college students. Substance Abuse. 2019. DOI: 10.1080/08897077.2019.1675116

(12) Eisenberg D., Lipson S.K. The Healthy Minds Study. 2019. Accessed from: https://healthymindsnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/HMS_national-2018-19.pdf

(13) American Psychiatric Association. Telepsychiatry Toolkit. Accessed from: https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/telepsychiatry/toolkit

(14) Hilty, D.M., Maheu, M.M., Drude, K.P. et al. The Need to Implement and Evaluate Telehealth Competency Frameworks to Ensure Quality Care across Behavioral Health Professions. Acad Psychiatry 42, 818–824 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-018-0992-5

Telepsychiatry as an effective and affordable long-term solution to specialized mental healthcare on campus

This post is written by Kelly Carleton, MA, Clinical Operations Director at Mantra Health. She has a background in managing over $6 million in grant funded programs (e.g., federal, private, etc) to support behavioral health integration and telemental health initiatives at a large medical center. If you have questions related to the grant application process or want guidance on where to start, please contact Kelly directly to set up a free consultation call, or you can book an appointment here. 

Grant funding can be an excellent way for higher education institutions to lift pilot projects off the ground or enhance existing programs or services. College and university health and mental health care departments may especially benefit from obtaining additional grant funding to support innovations in health care delivery, particularly in light of the recent Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) public health emergency which has made telehealth services much more ubiquitous. 

In response to its rising popularity, grants supporting telehealth programs have increasingly become a priority topic due to the ability for telehealth to address major gaps in our healthcare system including care access, quality, and patient/provider satisfaction. The COVID-19 crisis has filtered even more funds to support telehealth and has led to deadline extensions from existing funding announcements. For example, to address health care needs during COVID-19, the Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) Telehealth Network and Telehealth Resource Centers Grant Programs authorized $29 million per year through 2025 and has relaxed the criteria for who qualifies as an eligible applicant. (1)

With adequate resources and support from someone experienced in the grant application process, colleges and universities can use grant funds to embark on projects that create opportunities for cutting edge and high quality care for their students.

Grant-Seeking Process: High Level Considerations

Though starting the grant application process takes substantial effort to research and plan, there is a methodological way to approach the process that helps save time and increase one’s chances of being successfully awarded funding. Below are some example questions and suggestions to consider while reviewing various funding opportunities. For more information, please contact Kelly Carleton (contact information above) or book a consultation call here, which will include a thorough review of how to prepare for grant applications.

Understand the various types of grants (e.g., federal agencies, regional and national foundations, etc) and determine what funding type best fits the aims of your project.

Does your organization fit within the eligibility criteria listed in the RFP/FOA?

When are awards announced and funds dispersed, and does this align with your budget needs for the project and fiscal year?

Are there any restrictions on how the funds can be used that are going to prevent me from carrying out project activities as desired?

The Rural Health Information Hub is a reputable go-to resource for researching telehealth-related grants with filtering options by topic, geography/state, and active/inactive funding. An exhaustive list of grants, including opportunities from NIH/NIMH, SAMHSA, HHS, and NSF, can also be found at grants.gov, with ability to add parameters such as open/close date, applicant eligibility, funding agency, and keyword search.

To facilitate the grant seeking process, we compiled a list of programs and funding sources whose priority areas align with supporting telehealth related programs at your college or university. Of note, the list below ranges from low to high intensity in respect to how much time and effort is required in the submission process. Interested applicants can book a call with our Clinical Operations Director to help analyze the available funding opportunities and what is the right fit for your project idea.

The priority areas, status, and due dates for the programs listed below are subject to change. We strongly recommend periodically checking program websites for active status grants and/or signing up for email notifications for each respective source.

If you don’t see your state below, email me (kelly@mantrahealth.com). I will research relevant grants available in your state and send it to you directly by email.

Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA)

Telehealth Network Grant Program ($300,000 per year)

Evidence-Based Tele-Behavioral Health Network Program ($350,000 per year)

Rural Health Care Coordination Program ($250,000 per year)

Telehealth Focused Rural Health Research Center Program ($950,000 per year)

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Distance Learning & Telemedicine Grants ($1,000,000 total)

Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) (award varies per FOA)

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) (award varies per FOA)

William T Grant Foundation ($600,000 total)

Aetna Foundation (~$50,000 - $100,000 total)

United Health Foundation (award amount negotiable)

Alabama Power Foundation (award varies per proposal)

Vitalyst Health Foundation ($175,000 total)

Northern Arizona Healthcare Foundation ($100,000)

California Health Care Foundation ($250,000 total)

The Ahmanson Foundation ($5,000 - $1 million)

Ben B. Cheney Foundation ($20,000 - $40,000)

Telligen Community Initiative Grants ($50,000 total)

Caring for Colorado Foundation ($575,000 total)

The Colorado Health Foundation (award varies per proposal)

New Canaan Community Foundation ($20,000)

Community Foundation of Greater New Britian ($25,000)

Florida Blue Foundation ($100,000 per year)

Healthcare Georgia Foundation (~$75,000 total)

Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta ($10,000 - $25,000)

The Blowitz-Ridgeway Foundation ($30,000 total)

McElroy Trust (award varies per proposal)

Fort Dodge Community Foundation (award varies per proposal)

Baton Rouge Area Foundation (award varies per proposal)

Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Louisiana ($25,000)

New Hampshire Charitable Foundation (award varies per proposal)

Maine Health Access Foundation (award varies per proposal)

Maryand Department of Health (award varies per FOA, up to ~$6,000,000)

The Leonard and Helen R. Stulman Charitable Foundation ($150,000)

The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation ($200,000 total)

Peter and Elizabeth Tower Foundation (~$50-100,000)

Michigan Health Endowment Fund ($500,000 total)

The Superior Health Foundation ($25,000 per year)

Foundation for the Mid South (award varies per proposal)

Bower Foundation (award varies per proposal)

Minnesota Dept of Human Services (award varies per proposal)

Health Forward Foundation (award varies per proposal)

Missouri Foundation for Health (award varies per proposal)

Minnesota Department of Human Services (~$2,000,000)

Saint Louis MHB (award varies per proposal)

Telehealth Grant Opportunities for Higher Education Institutions (UPDATED)

In my twenty-five year career as a college psychiatrist, this period has proven to be one of the most stressful for students and staff. Fortunately, prior to the Covid pandemic, I received some training in trauma-informed care. I find myself turning to the principles of trauma-informed care, which is uniquely suited to help college students and staff cope with the adverse events connected to the Covid pandemic. 

Trauma-informed care involves understanding how the different traumas our patients and we have experienced can increase risk for depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders. Treatment empowers individuals to find the tools that will work for their recovery. According to SAMHSA’s Guidance for a Trauma-informed Approach, trauma results from an event or series of events that is experienced as emotionally or physically harmful or life threatening, causing lasting adverse effects on mental and physical well-being.  

The numerous adverse events brought on by Covid can certainly qualify as traumatic to many in the campus community. In fact, students are already experiencing impacts on mental well-being. From the fall of 2019 to the spring of 2020, the number of students who screened positive for depression increased from 36% to 41%. In June, one of four 18-24 year-olds reported having seriously considered suicide in the last month.

The Covid pandemic has bombarded students with negative experiences that are out out of their control. They lack contact with friends and often describe feeling lonely. They live with the uncertainty of whether in person classes will go online and they will have to vacate their dorms. They worry about finances if they or their parents have lost jobs. They fear getting Covid from roommates or giving Covid to parents when they see them. 

College mental health staff are facing parallel challenges. They miss seeing friends or loved ones. They may not know day to day if their children will be learning at home or in school. Furloughs due to budgetary shortfalls could be on the horizon. If they are working in their buildings, they worry about getting Covid. 

Loss may be the biggest stressor we all face. Anecdotally, several college mental health professionals have described losing an older friend or relative to Covid, and we may see students experiencing the death of a loved one. Students describe feeling they have lost unique experiences such as making new friends in freshman year or of celebrating graduation with family during senior year. We live with a sense of loss and the potential for loss. 

How College Mental Health Services Can Incorporate Trauma-Informed Care

Trauma-informed principles of validation of trauma, safety, and collaboration can be applied clinically and organizationally to help campuses cope with Covid. 

Clinical: Ask your patient how they are impacted by Covid - are they lonely, struggling financially, worried about illness in themselves or others? Validate that many students are struggling with similar issues. Encourage them to meet with other students outdoors or by video. Direct them to grants for financial setbacks and the student health care center for medical concerns. Identify racial trauma; Black and Latinx populations have been disproportionately affected by Covid and subject to distressing incidences of violence. Group therapy by telehealth can be a good way to connect students who are experiencing similar traumas.

Organizational: Check in with staff at team meetings regarding the impact of Covid on their lives. Team leaders can talk individually with someone who might be struggling. Acknowledge that this is a difficult time for the organization and educate employees about mental health resources. 

Clinical: Most college mental health centers have transitioned to telehealth as the safest way to provide care, with exceptions for some circumstances, such as emergency evaluations. Student surveys can assess patient satisfaction and best ways to deliver care for telehealth. In my experience, most students are happy with telepsychiatry services. However, it is critical to develop a protocol for delivering services when an emergency arises during telehealth. 

Organizational: While most university mental health providers use telehealth, some are working from home, others from offices, and still others in a hybrid model. Campus organizations should evaluate their ventilation systems and cleaning procedures to maximally reduce the risk of Covid spread. Staff should feel comfortable reminding colleagues to follow mask protocols. If a student is seen in person, it should be in a large well-ventilated room with masks worn.

Clinical: Students should be equal collaborators in treatment and empowered to share in clinical decision making. After an initial mental health evaluation, students can be offered an array of tools for their problems, often depression or anxiety. These could include wellness activities such as meditation, exercise, or yoga; avoidance of substance misuse; individual and/or group therapy; and psychiatric treatment. 

Since trauma increases risk for depression, anxiety, substance use disorder, and PTSD, therapy approaches should be tailored accordingly. Specific approaches for PTSD include CBT, EMDR, and prolonged exposure therapy. A trauma-informed approach to psychiatric treatment includes a thorough discussion of the diagnosis and evidence-based medication treatments including risks and benefits. Often, I will mention a few different medications and we will decide together which might work best. 

Organizational: As we develop protocols for delivery of care to students, it is essential to include providers, case managers, and support staff in the discussion. Leadership should be transparent about the reasons for their decisions. Information should be shared in a respectful, collaborative manner. Staff who feel it is in their best interests to work from home but are being asked to return to the office should be made aware of the path to apply for an alternate work location.

For at the least the near future, we will feel the shadow of Covid hanging over us, potentially impacting our mental and physical well-being. By taking a trauma-informed care approach that focuses in validation, safety, and collaboration, we can provide excellent care for college students and support each other in the process. 

Dr. Marcia Morris is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Associate Program Director for Student Health Care Center Psychiatry at the University of Florida, and author of The Campus Cure: A Parent's Guide to Mental Health and Wellness for College Students. 

I spent the majority of my career in the college mental health space as the Director of Counseling and Psychological Health at UMass Amherst in Massachusetts. As with most counseling centers in higher education settings, UMass Amherst struggled with the flow of getting each student the mental health care they need. Each year, utilization rates would rise and outstrip on-campus resources. Like many other campuses, we were additionally bound to providing care only during the active academic calendar, which means students who seek care were often confronted with a several month disruption in treatment as they move off campus to their respective homes for breaks. 

Knowing that it is incumbent upon us as campus leaders to use clinically based decision making, I searched for any and all efficiencies that will not compromise our clinical standards. For example, referrals to the community are an integral component of any comprehensive stepped care plan, however, when coordination or communication with the campus based center is clinically indicated such community referrals can fall short in the context of busy schedules or privacy laws. Operational barriers aside, referrals to psychiatric services pose particular challenges given the sparsity of psychiatric providers in so many areas of the country. 

As I approached retirement, I often reflected on these systemic problems and knew I still wanted to make an impact on this continued problem in the field. I had intended to slow down, develop a part-time consulting practice, and engage in a small clinical practice focusing on college and university students, all of which I’ve been fortunately and gratefully able to achieve. Joining an entrepreneurial start-up was completely out of my radar for my “lower key” retirement plan, despite being regularly approached throughout my career by telemental health vendors wanting to offer a variation of some solution that addresses the challenges inherent to providing mental health services in large residential communities. I was not interested in working with a technology group, especially when there are so many that exist in the market today opting to solve the same problems - how does one truly distinguish one company from another? It felt risky at this point in my career.

When I was approached by the co-founders of Mantra Health, I was quickly intrigued by their unique system - knowing that this was a niche product unlike what I’ve seen before. I was immediately taken by the way in which this team understood it’s clients’ challenges and capitalized on their ability to address them. This was a team that truly understood the power of using technology to promote care quality, without neglecting the interpersonal importance of connecting patients and providers, and instead, finding ways to augment this care interaction. Despite this being a new chapter in my professional life with various other plans for how I was going to spend it, I knew that I had to somehow collaborate with this visionary team.

Mantra’s team is made up of a unique blend of individuals with clinical expertise to understand the challenges and potential solutions in the mental health care space, but also with impressive technology operators who have contributed to building market defining solutions. The end result of this structure offers a fresh take on using technology to increase access to needed long term therapy or psychiatric care by focusing on the importance of interdisciplinary team communication and collaboration, which as mentioned above, is one of the biggest challenges in the field. Understanding the importance of close collaboration with the counseling center is the foundation of Mantra’s software, an intuitive tool that allows counseling centers to have real-time, bidirectional input into the care of the student. Mantra also expertly finds a way to identify and address each clients’ pain points and propose a flexible solution that helps higher education institutions achieve their overall academic and student success goals, including ensuring that patients are never left without mental care options, regardless of which academic calendar their school’s services are bound.

Currently as a Clinical Advisor for Mantra, I am able to take the decades of experience working in a higher education counseling center setting and modernize that knowledge to address the needs of students today. This role gives me an opportunity to weigh in on these important issues in a substantive manner throughout each stage of Mantra’s development and expansion as a start-up company. I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this new wave of care delivery, especially in this dire time prompted by COVID-19. Mantra’s solution not only solves a need with the pandemic today, but offers a solution for challenges faced in the field for decades making it both timely and timeless.

Why I joined Mantra Health as a Clinical Advisor

Mantra Health reached out to a coalition of student body presidents (SBP) to get a better understanding of how mental health care on campus is viewed from the students’ perspective. The SBP’s recently published an open letter to state licensing boards gathering signatures from more than 150 universities across the country. We asked questions about why mental health support is a crucial part of a student’s journey in higher education, particularly now with the widespread impact of COVID-19.


Mantra: From the student experience, what do you think is the major barrier in accessing mental health resources and services on college and university campuses?

William Zhou (Brown University Student Body President 2019-2020): “As mentioned in our letter, one barrier to accessing mental health resources are licensing laws that bar mental health practitioners from providing out-of-state care. As a result, many students are now left to cope with severe stress without the assistance of essential mental healthcare practitioners. Counselors at universities across the country have transitioned their work to an online format, but are not able to offer their assistance to students living outside of their state due to licensing regulations. We have seen a similar issue arise when students return to their homes for university breaks, which are shorter and less anxiety-inducing than the state of affairs with which we are presently faced. 

To adapt to licensing laws during these breaks, state governments have recommended that mental health practitioners apply for temporary licenses in their patients' home states. However, the unforeseeable nature of COVID-19 has left mental healthcare practitioners with little to no time to apply for such licences to ensure that they can continue seeing their patients. This then poses an additional barrier and threat to students' wellbeing, which should be of top priority to ensure that they can remain focused and in good mental health.” 

Mantra: In your opinion, what is the impact of students not receiving needed mental health services?

Grace Wickerson (Rice University Student Body President, 2019-2020):  “A national study done by RISE found that 75% of college students have had increased anxiety, depression, or stress due to disruptions to their education. On my own campus I’ve seen this first hand, with mass calls from students for increased mental health support especially since their University is their main mental health provider.”

Mantra: How do you envision the path towards improving mental health resources across college and university campuses, and what exactly are the student needs at this time?

WZ: “We believe that the path forward involves state medical boards mandating the suspension of interstate regulations on counseling services so that those who are licensed and in good standing in any state can practice without civil or criminal penalty. We also believe that the telemental health practitioner definition should include any professional, paraprofessional, or licensed behavioral health staff who deliver qualified services via telemental health. Fortunately, many state boards now offer temporary licenses to help support the increased mental health need and we hope to see more follow suit.” 

Mantra: How do you see telemental health services playing a role in helping address barriers around getting help?

Ranen Miao (Washington University in St. Louis, Student Body President 2020-2021): “Amidst social distancing measures, financial and academic stressors, and anxiety induced by COVID-19, we need to support students while they adjust to online classes and transition home.”

WZ: “As mentioned in the letter, the expansion of telehealth can play a role in supporting students in getting help. Its expansion across state lines is necessary when considering the influx of mental illnesses due to the social isolation mandated by many state governments. While this practice is necessary to flatten the curve, it has also imposed severe health consequences for people who are now cut off from their social circles and support systems.” 

Mantra: If you could relay one message to the Vice President of Student Affairs at your school related to improving mental health services on campus, what would that be?

WZ: “COVID has had a significant impact on student life. For students unaccustomed to living at home, returning to their families may elicit stress in many forms, including complex family dynamics, financial strains and food and housing insecurity among others. And for a number of obvious reasons, some students may be placed in a position or situation where they must take care of themselves or loved ones who cannot care for themselves (like younger siblings). It’s incredibly important that students continue to have access to support systems remotely as without them, these challenges can be exacerbated.” 

How would you rate the importance of mental health support for students in this new normal as opposed to prior to Covid, from much less important - much more important?

Student body presidents on why mental health care needs to be supported now more than ever

Parked Thoughts