A fundamental challenge for counseling staff is to: get your most critical students the help they need, when they need it. Some students can arrange care for themselves, or engage in telehealth. However, the vast majority experience better, faster care by being connected with local counselors that the center’s staff knows and trusts. This is especially true for students in crisis, those with specialized issues, and those requiring long-term engagement with a professional.

Local mental healthcare professionals might be right down the street, but the administrative burden of reaching them makes them feel like they’re a million miles away. Calls, emails, scheduling, insurance, payment, availability; the cost of making connections with at-risk students and local therapists is huge. So huge, in fact, that it can overwhelm your staff, and leave students in need waiting.

So close, and yet so far. How do we fix this problem?