Mental health resources are changing on campus. In an effort to provide students with accessible wellness options both in-person and anonymously online, the Counseling and Personal Development Center will be replaced by a holistic approach to student wellness.
As part of the new system, Josh Guthrie, ’09, has been appointed as Allegheny’s wellness case manager.
“There is a strong connection between our physical wellness and our mental wellbeing,” Guthrie said. “Making sure that folks’ basic needs are met in that realm supports wellness for the student body.”
Guthrie’s appointment comes at a time where in-person mental health providers are few and far between. As Dean for the Student Experience Ian Binnington explained, the demand for in-person therapy is higher than the supply of therapists, both at Allegheny and across the country. To compensate for students’ therapy needs, Winslow Health Center has partnered with Edinboro Counseling and Psychological Services as of June 2023.
“One of the advantages from partnering with an external agency, if we need more than two counselors, they have something like 40 counselors on staff,” Binnington said.
The supplementary staffing will allow for increased access to counselors for students. Extended hours and wellness workshops are some of the ultimate goals for the new health system.
“So, when we had our own counseling center with our own employees, we largely didn’t have evening hours, we didn’t have weekend hours, we didn’t have summer hours,” Binnington said.
“Partnering with Edinboro — with ECPS — was a good thing in and of itself because they can provide services that we were never going to be able to provide.”
Just as before, students will be required to provide insurance to attend in-person counseling sessions. However, Binnington stressed that insurance — and the lack of anonymity that may present — should not be a barrier for students in getting therapy.
“Every student should have insurance because it’s required, but a student should not feel as though we’re going to out them in any particular way through their insurance,” Binnington said. “If they have concerns about that, we will work with them in order to make sure that they feel safe and can still have access to those services.”
In addition to in-person wellness options, students will also have access to expanded online care options. The 98point6 app — introduced last spring as a free online therapy option for students — will remain. The 24/7 emergency line, however, is being phased out in favor of the national 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline number.
“So we looked at the data, and the reality is that, over the course of the past couple of academic years, very few students have actually used the 24/7 line. About half of the calls to it were wrong numbers … maybe 12 total calls were actually of significance,” Binnington said. “For those 12 cases, that’s really important … but the 24/7 line was not being used nearly as often as I think people thought it was.”
Dean for Student Life Trae Yeckley added that many students who sought out online health resources preferred a chatting option compared to calling a phone number, hence the shift toward 98point6 and the 988 number, both of which are available online.
“While some (students) are using the 24/7 line, the majority of our students are using crisis resources like 988, the Trevor Project … a lot of text-based, chat-based support as opposed to actually picking up the phone and calling,” Yeckley said.
The new programs will soon be streamlined into one health and wellness website where students can access resources, find emergency and non-emergency crisis numbers as well as contact Guthrie, who is looking for student suggestions and feedback.
As wellness case manager, Guthrie now oversees the college’s connection to ESPC in addition to food insecurity concerns. The new position was designed with the understanding that wellness is a combination of physical, mental and environmental elements.
“As a professional with experience in the field, I come to Allegheny with a vision for wellness for the student body,” Guthrie said. “However, I cannot complete that alone. … I absolutely require the students’ feedback to help me understand what folks need right now and in the future in order to make this a holistic experience for everyone. It’s not my vision alone that is going to make this a success, it’s a collaborative effort.”
Until the announcement of the new wellness website, students can email [email protected] with any questions, concerns or suggestions about new programs. Students should also feel comfortable reaching out to staff, who have been briefed on campus resources to point students in the right direction.
“We’ve done outreach to faculty and to staff to make sure they know what we’re doing, so that when students come to them and ask questions, hopefully they will know the answers,” Binnington said. “We recognize that it’s our responsibility to make sure that students know what’s going on.”
