Wellness

Digital Mental Health Provider Mantra Adds Three More NY Colleges, Now Serving 60K Students

• By Kristal Kuykendall
• 12/14/21

Mantra Health, a digital mental health clinic serving higher education institutions, has expanded its services to more colleges in the state of New York, making coordinated psychiatric care and medication management available to tens of thousands more students, the company said in a news release.

Mantra unveiled new partnerships with Alfred State College, Clarkson University and Russell Sage College; with established services at Hamilton College, Colgate University and St. John's University. The new partnerships mean that Mantra Health is now available to 60,000 students across the state.

Public health officials have been sounding the alarm about a growing mental health crisis among students in particular, worsened by the pandemic. Post-secondary students reported an elevated level of depression, loneliness and hopelessness at the beginning of this fall semester, while colleges nationwide are grappling with a shortage of mental health providers. Parallel to national trends, young adults in New York have the highest rates of poor mental health in comparison to other age groups in the state, studies show, and 21% of the state's population resides in an area that has a mental health professional shortage.

Mantra Health supports schools in meeting the increased need for behavioral health care for students by working with on-campus counselors to make referrals to board-certified psychiatric specialists in Mantra's network, as well as collaborating on treatment plans, administration of care and tracking patient progress. The company's closed-loop program blends telehealth with in-person support services, ensuring that students have access to a network of culturally competent providers and that students remain engaged in treatment as long as treatment is needed.

"Providing student access to psychiatry services has always been a priority and even more so in the midst of the additional stresses caused by the pandemic," said Hollie Hall, assistant vice president of well-being and student support at Alfred State College – SUNY College of Technology. "Integrating Mantra's telepsychiatry services and medication management into our center has allowed us to refer our students to providers in a timely manner so they can get high-quality care, in a very collaborative environment alongside our counseling team."

The partnership with Mantra Health allows on-campus counselors to get students into psychiatric care the same week and also allows them to collaborate on medication management with a Mantra-affiliated psychiatrist, improving student health outcomes, the company said.

Students who use the Mantra services will be able to see the same mental health professional at every video appointment, will not face long waitlists, and will have access to evening and weekend appointments, 24/7 messaging, additional self-care resources and medication prescriptions when deemed necessary. Mantra reports that its partner schools have seen, on average, just over three-quarters of students using the Mantra psychiatric care services improve in their depression and anxiety symptoms.

Learn more about Mantra Health at MantraHealth.com.