Sul Ross State University will offer students expanded access to mental health and basic needs support through a new partnership with Fort Worth-based TimelyCare, the premier provider of virtual health and well-being resources in higher education.
The agreement – adopted by SRSU and the other six schools in the Texas State University System – is to comprehensively address students’ mental health and overall well-being at a time when 24/7 access to high-quality care has never been more important. According to the American Council on Education, student mental health is the top concern of college and university presidents. It’s also the number one reason students leave college. A recent report by Gallup and the Lumina Foundation found that 69 percent of students in bachelor’s degrees programs who considered dropping out cited emotional stress as their reason.
Beginning June 14, through TimelyCare on their phone or other device, students – whether on campus, online or traveling – will be able to select from a wide-ranging menu of virtual care options from licensed counselors and providers in all 50 states. Soon SRSU students will have access to the following services at no cost and without the barrier of traditional insurance:
- On-demand mental health and emotional support (TalkNow)
- Nine scheduled mental health counseling sessions
- Health coaching
- Care navigation
- Basic Needs assistance
- Peer support community
- Digital self-care content
Additionally, faculty and staff will have access to support that empowers them to guide students to TimelyCare resources to help students achieve a sense of well-being, live healthier lifestyles and improve their mental health.
TimelyCare allows SRSU to deliver a hybrid model of care in collaboration with on-campus resources. Benefits to students include:
- Convenient 24/7 care – Physical and mental health issues often present themselves outside regular business hours, and TimelyCare makes seeking support or treatment as easy and convenient as making a video or phone call. Nationally, about 40 percent of mental health care visits through TimelyCare occur after regular business hours or on weekends.
- Reduced wait times – Many campus counseling centers often have a two- to three-week wait time for appointments, whereas students can typically connect with a TimelyCare provider in less than five minutes.
- Diverse provider network – TimelyCare’s diverse and culturally responsive provider network reflects and is proud to serve students who embody diversity in race, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, age, religion and worldview, language, health, ability, sexual orientation, socioeconomic and immigration status, and more. More than half of mental health providers identify as BIPOC. The platform also offers professionals who identify as LGBTQIA+, speak multiple languages, and translation services to support more than 240 languages. Students scheduling services can choose to meet with a specific provider or select the first available.
- Peace of mind – TimelyCare is a safe, secure, URAC-accredited and HIPAA-compliant platform that follows campus-specific protocols to facilitate care coordination and follow-up to ensure continuity of care. Integrations with leading learning management systems ensure students have even more on-ramps to in-the-moment support whenever they need it.
“We have been making positive strives in creating awareness, providing outreach education and facilitating services to individuals and groups across the university,” said Vice President for Student Affairs Ben Telesca. “The system’s partnership enables us to add resources to better assist our students 24/7. With our recent recognition as a Gold Certified Campus for effort to create a culture of wellness, this adds more traction. Our Whole Pack Wellness initiative designates mental health as an important piece of the model. This will not only help our students here and now but assist them with strategies and education to create healthy mind spaces for their future success.”
TimelyCare is trusted to serve more than 1.5 million students at more than 250 colleges and universities across the country as an extension of campus health and counseling center resources, with a goal of improving student well-being, engagement and retention.
Three-quarters of college students who accessed virtual mental health and well-being interventions through TimelyCare reported mental health improvement – including 100 percent of students who presented as a potential suicide risk. Sixty percent of all students who have sought mental health support through TimelyCare said they would have done nothing if the service were not available.