MCC Daily Tribune

SUNY Launches a Comprehensive Plan to Expand Access to Mental Health Services to Every Student

Yesterday, October 4, SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras and other SUNY leaders announced the following comprehensive plan to expand mental health services to every student. Key points include:

SUNY Partners with Thriving Campus, Connecting Every Student from SUNY's 64 Campuses to Network of More Than 6,000 Licensed Mental Health Professionals
SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University Joins SUNY Upstate Medical University to Become Tele-Counseling Hub, Drastically Reducing Wait Times and Increasing the Number of SUNY Colleges Using Tele-Counseling by End of 2020
SUNY Makes Statewide Peer-to-Peer Assistance Hotline Operated at the University at Albany Accessible to All SUNY Students
Launches #ReachOutSUNY Campaign to Shatter Stigma, Increase Participation in Free Online Crisis Training Program as Pandemic Social Separation Increases Mental Health Issues Among College Students
#ReachOutSUNY Video Available Online

In response to a nationwide uptick in mental health and wellness needs among college students due to the impact of COVID-19, State University of New York Chancellor Jim Malatras today announced a comprehensive plan to expand access to mental health services to every student at SUNY's 64 campuses. The announcement was made from SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University with SUNY Chairman Merryl H. Tisch, and SUNY Trustees Marcos Crespo and Camille Joseph Varlack.

As part of this new plan, SUNY is partnering with Thriving Campus to provide every student from SUNY's colleges and universities with access to a network of more than 6,000 licensed mental health service providers. The mobile-friendly app, already utilized at two SUNY campuses, breaks down a number of crucial, often overlooked barriers that students frequently encounter in the process of reaching out for help. By streamlining and simplifying what can be a stressful and overwhelming process, and building synergy with local mental health providers, more students will be seamlessly connected with the specific help they need, when they need it.

In addition, Chancellor Malatras announced that SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University will join SUNY Upstate Medical University as a hub for tele-counseling for SUNY students. The tele-counseling program offers cognitive behavioral therapy, consultative service for clinicians, and crisis assistance provided by SUNY physicians, psychologists, or nurse practitioners on a secure online platform. Upstate Medical currently serves as the tele-counseling hub for students at 10 SUNY campuses, and SUNY Downstate will provide services for an additional five campuses.

SUNY will also expand a peer-to-peer assistance hotline operated by the University at Albany to all students across the entire SUNY system. Students do not need to be in crisis to use this hotline. It's a stigma-free, secure line for connecting about emotional, social, and other life issues.

To accompany this expansion of services, Chancellor Malatras also launched #ReachOutSUNY, a public awareness campaign designed to shatter the stigma associated with mental health struggles and asking for help, while educating students about available services. The campaign will also encourage more faculty, staff, and students to take the free online crisis training program Question, Persuade, and Refer (QPR) that teaches individuals how to recognize someone who may be in emotional distress or having suicidal thoughts, and how to appropriately engage and connect that person to resources that can help.

"For students everywhere, normal pressures associated with college are being compounded by the weight of this unprecedented time, with the challenges and disruptions caused by COVID-19 increasing levels of anxiety, stress, loneliness, and isolation," said Chancellor Malatras. "With SUNY's comprehensive Reach Out Mental Health Services Program, students across the entire SUNY system will have access to critical services, be it internal tele-counseling with SUNY medical professionals, an easy to use referral program to other local medical professionals, a system-wide peer-to-peer support network, the campus crisis hotline, and crisis prevention training. This has been a particularly difficult time and it has taken a toll, so by expanding available student mental health support services--and shattering the stigma that may be associated with seeking them out--students will be able to get the support they need, be it a long-term treatment for a specific issue, or when they just feel down and need someone to connect with."

SUNY also has an active Student Mental Health and Wellness Task Force, which was established to make recommendations to the SUNY Board of Trustees on how the system can make a measurable difference in addressing the mental health needs of students and mitigating the negative effects of behavioral health risks, including suicide. The task force focuses on early interventions and explores existing practices and public health approaches across the nation to address the mental health needs of SUNY students. The task force is led by co-chairs SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University President Wayne J. Riley, M.D. and SUNY Oswego President Deborah Stanley, in consultation with Leah Wentworth, Ph.D., MPH, SUNY system administration's Director of Student Wellness. The group is comprised of system administration staff, campus presidents, counseling center and student affairs staff, and faculty, as well as state and national mental health experts.

SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University President Riley said, "The coronavirus pandemic has caused a sea change in the way we assess and address mental health and wellness needs for everyone. By connecting students early on to licensed, mental health service providers through the Thriving Campus App, and providing access to resources, students can get the help they need during particularly stressful periods. SUNY Downstate is proud to join our sister campuses as a tele-counseling center for students where we will provide interventions that can assist in mitigating challenges our students face."

The full release is available online. Below are key elements of the plan.

Thriving Campus Application Expansion

Thriving Campus is a HIPAA-compliant web application that breaks down the barriers to getting help by bridging the gap between campus counseling services and local mental health and wellness service providers. Seeing the value of Thriving Campus at Purchase College and SUNY Oswego, SUNY administration has secured funding to expand it system-wide.

When campus counseling centers determine that a student needs more specialized, long-term care, the easy-to-access, mobile-friendly Thriving Campus App facilitates the handoff to a licensed local provider. Providers manage their own profiles, posting up-to-date information on their specializations and time availability. Their profiles are hidden if they are not accepting new patients, breaking down a frequent barrier to services by preventing students from reaching out, being turned down, getting frustrated, and ultimately abandoning their search.

The Thriving Campus directories are customized by college. They also include a help guide that provides tips on insurance and choosing a provider, as well as a voicemail script that puts students at ease reaching out. Colleges can also utilize the app to create custom provider lists based on specific treatment needs.

Creating a Second Tele-Counseling Hub

First piloted in 2018 thanks to New York State funding, the Student Tele-Counseling Network (STCN) currently offers tele-counseling services to students at select campuses through Upstate Medical University.

The program connects students to an Upstate Medical physician, psychologist, or nurse practitioner on a secure online platform. Those professionals help with a wide range of mental health issues, ranging from anxiety to depression to eating disorders. These services are provided at a non-out-of-pocket cost.

By adding SUNY Downstate as a second hub to supplement Upstate Medical--SUNY will expand the program to an additional five campuses by the end of this year. Ten campuses are currently participating including, Binghamton University, SUNY Cobleskill, SUNY Morrisville, Nassau Community College, SUNY New Paltz, SUNY Oneonta, Onondaga Community College, SUNY Oswego, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, and SUNY Potsdam. The program drastically reduces wait times for tele-counseling services.

Peer-to-Peer Assistance Hotline

The peer-to-peer assistance hotline established at UAlbany will now be accessible system-wide. Students experiencing feelings such as loneliness, depression, anxiety, or uncertainty can call the hotline to connect with a trained student peer. Students do not need to be in crisis to use this hotline. It's a stigma-free, secure line for connecting about emotional, social, and other life issues. The phone lines are staffed by peers trained to assess students' well-being and, if necessary, link them with the appropriate mental health services, academic or technological resources, or financial assistance available at their respective campuses.

Since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic, the Middle Earth hotline has been a key resource for students at the University at Albany, with trained peers engaging in more than 8,000 well-being calls with fellow students. The hotline is open 1 p.m. through midnight Monday through Thursday, and operates 24/7 over the weekend, beginning on Fridays at 1 p.m. and closing on Sundays at 11:59 p.m. during the fall and spring semesters. The number is 518-442-5777.

Trained peers from the Middle Earth program will also offer virtual "hangout spaces" over Zoom Monday through Thursday from 3 p.m.to 4 p.m. during the UAlbany semester to provide an additional source of connection for students in quarantine or isolation.

Crisis Text Line

These new, expanded services supplement SUNY's 24/7 crisis text line, which was launched in May in tandem with the New York State Office of Mental Health. The crisis text line is a confidential text line available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Crisis counselors are committed and carefully trained volunteers from across the United States. They support students experiencing feelings of isolation, stress, or suicidality. Crisis counselors use empathetic listening techniques, bringing texts "from a hot moment to a cool calm". With an emphasis on building rapport and trust, crisis counselors help texters explore the issues, establish the texter's goal, and collaboratively problem-solve to come up with a plan for the texter to stay safe. To access the crisis text line, students simply text Got5U to 741-741.

Crisis Prevention Training

Also, in May, and in partnership with the Office of Mental Health, SUNY launched an online suicide prevention training. So far, 675 members of the SUNY community have undergone an online Question, Persuade, and Refer (QPR) training that teaches them how to recognize someone who may be in emotional distress or having suicidal thoughts, and how to appropriately engage and connect that person to resources that can help. Anyone can practice QPR in any setting, and it is appropriate in all relationships. QPR does not require clinical training, only a willingness to listen, care, and help. Members of the SUNY community may register by going to http://www.qprtraining.com/setup.php and entering "SUNY" as the organizational code.

Rosanna Yule
Government and Community Relations
10/05/2020