Swarthmore College Part of Student Mental Health Services Trend

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Students at Swarthmore College walking the grounds
Image via Swarthmore College.
3 Delaware County colleges have tightened their acceptance rates in recent years.

Colleges and universities are actively seeking out mental health services these days to help their students cope with academic assignments, depression, and suicidal thoughts, writes Melissa Korn for The Wall Street Journal.

Swarthmore College, for example, has joined Talkspace which offers virtual, online, and mobile therapy to lessen the burden on campus-based counseling centers.

Talkspace appealed to the college because its service could provide medication management during school breaks.

Through these services, colleges can provide shorter appointments, encourage group therapy, create peer-support groups, and refer students to outside clinicians and workshops for stress relief and mindfulness.

The approach gives students more options for who they want to see, as well as when and how.

“Mental health issues can’t be addressed on a 9-to-5 basis and only in person,” said Sandra Doran, president of Bay Path University in Longmeadow, Mass.

In winter 2021, 41 percent of college students screened positive for depression. That’s up from 17% in 2013, according to a Healthy Minds Study.

Positive screenings for anxiety rose to 34% from 17% in that time.

Public health experts believe the pandemic’s prolonged isolation has placed many young adults at a crisis point.

Read more about mental health services for college students at The Wall Street Journal.

The PBS Newshour looks at how college students cope with mental health issues from the pandemic.

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