St. Bonaventure University students now have an additional resource when seeking support for loneliness, stress, depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions.
Del Rey Honeycutt, Ph.D., associate dean for student and community wellbeing, said that through a new collaboration with Togetherall, students can engage with a global community of peers, offering and receiving support in a safe and anonymous online environment.
“We would like to reach as many students as possible to provide care and be proactive in the mental health crisis,” Honeycutt said. “We know that not all students feel comfortable seeking professional support, but most feel comfortable talking to a peer. We also know that our students have grown up with social media and using different platforms anonymously.”
To access the platform, students should visit togetherall.com/en-us/ and create an account. Students can connect with others experiencing similar feelings. The online community has trained professionals on hand 24/7.
“For students who feel less inclined to seek in-person support from our Counseling Services on campus, this is a good alternative or perhaps a ‘stepping stone,’” Honeycutt explained.
She said Togetherall helps the university to be proactive and expand beyond the traditional counseling setting, using technology to its advantage.
“We need to adapt and change to meet our students where they are at,” Honeycutt said.
A portion of the university’s funding to implement the platform is through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
St. Bonaventure utilizes a peer support model through resident assistants and various peer leader positions, such as the Bona HEALS program. Togetherall will help move beyond the in-person peer support and offers a model that St. Bonaventure students are used to in terms of online communication.
Togetherall’s peer supports who interact with the college students are trained by mental health professionals to provide supportive responses, and the community has live licensed clinicians monitoring the community for high-risk language and responding to conversations.
SBU students are also encouraged to follow the Center for Wellbeing on Instagram @bonnieswellbeing for support, news and services.
Togetherall is available to 4.6 million students worldwide at more than 450 colleges and universities. In recent survey data, the majority of respondents cited feelings of depression and anxiety as their reason for joining.