Meeting the evolving mental health needs of students across an entire university system is an exceptional challenge. Each campus is unique and has their own institutional needs, making it all the more important for systems to work toward a public health framework that prioritizes access, equity, and sustainability.

Leaders from Minnesota State, Universities of Wisconsin, and Togetherall help us explore the many ways in which university systems can build more effective and sustainable mental health and wellness solutions across their various campuses.

Looking beyond the workforce 

University systems are increasingly recognizing that comprehensive support requires more than just basic counseling, but rather a full continuum of care, from proactive wellness to urgent after-hours support. This shift reflects a growing consensus that physical headcount cannot be the only solution to rising demand.

Kate Noelke, MPH, MCHES, Director for Student Mental Health and Wellness at Minnesota State, said that the volume of students seeking help has outpaced what on-campus counseling centers can manage on their own.

“We could not hire our way out of our problem at Minnesota State. The students that are showing up in spaces needing support simply outweighed the capacity that our counselors had on campus.” – Noelke

Student needs have also surpassed traditional treatment frameworks, making population-level support necessary to truly manage the ecosystem, Ben Locke, PhD, Chief Clinical Officer at Togetherall, pointed out.

Adopting a public health framework

A tiered approach is necessary to operationalize this, said John Achter, PhD, Senior Director for Student Success and Wellbeing at Universities of Wisconsin. Currently, the Universities of Wisconsin system categorizes needs into three buckets to ensure nothing and no one slips through the cracks:

• Fostering connectedness and teaching life skills to the whole population through self-guided wellness content.
• Training faculty and staff on early intervention, so they can recognize issues early, preventing crises before they start. 
• Ensuring adequate funding for clinical services and treatment while leaning on digital mental health partners to expand access to care. 

This framework shifts the narrative to a broader strategy that involves the entire campus community, Dr. Achter explained.

Building preventative support systems 

Leaning into the public health framework, institutions must recognize the value of preventative care and its ability to reach the entire student body. This could include self-guided wellness programs and/or on-campus wellness spaces. 

Community is also a key component of this broader ecosystem, Dr. Locke emphasized. Peer support is no longer a “nice to have,” he said, but rather a critical layer for students who may never walk into a counseling center. One of the benefits of Togetherall, for instance, is that it provides a clinically moderated environment, so students have a safe, anonymous space where they can connect with other students like themselves, without having to engage in seeking help via traditional services. 

Locke also pointed out the sheer scalability of the peer support community model. A simple message on a Learning Management System (LMS), for example, led to hundreds of students joining the platform within days, a surge that you “could never accommodate in an in-person treatment system.”

Noelke backed this up, sharing that Minnesota State students accessing Togetherall are engaging with the platform repeatedly, showing that students are interested in sustained connection.

Expanding access to equitable care

Within a system, there are various campuses, which face their own unique challenges. Among small, rural, and/or technical colleges, for example, there’s often a gap in clinical care, such as specialized psychiatry or after-hours care, unlike at large flagship universities.

By adopting a system-wide strategy and leaning into digital mental health support, leaders can level the playing field, ensuring that a student at a small rural campus has the same access to the diverse provider network and after-hours care as a student at a larger university. 

To make this successful, though, external partners must be considered an extension of the campus team. Noelke pointed out that Mantra Health’s role as a digital mental health partner is to handle overflow, after-hours needs, and specialized cases, which protects on-campus counselors from burnout and ensures gaps are covered.

Making these resources digitally available also ensures that clinical care travels with the student. If a student transfers from a two-year to a four-year university, for example, Noelke explained, they don’t lose their support system; they take that one access point with them, ensuring continuity of care during critical transitions.

Putting the framework into place

When thinking about the gaps that exist at your system, or ways to build more effective supports across this tiered model, you may consider the following questions:

• Does a student at your smallest, most remote campus have access to the same diverse provider network and after-hours safety net as a student at your flagship university?
• How about 24/7 access to high-quality, self-guided or self-help resources, such as peer support or wellness content?
• When demand spikes, do you have a scalable solution to absorb the volume or is your only option to increase wait times?
• If a student transfers from a two-year college to a four-year university within your system, does their care access and history travel with them?

The future of student mental health requires a collaborative ecosystem where on-campus services, peer support, and other mental health and wellness solutions work seamlessly to provide wraparound care for all students across all campuses.