Penn launches digital mental health service partnership, vending machine with wellness products

Wellness at Penn recently launched a partnership with a digital mental health service and a vending machine offering over-the-counter wellness products.

Wellness at Penn’s partnership with Mantra Health and Togetherall will provide Penn students with access to teletherapy, self-care programs, and online peer-to-peer support. The Wellness Express Vending Machine will offer free, over-the-counter wellness products to students.

Through Mantra Health and Togetherall’s self-care programs, students can learn how to reduce stress, regulate emotions, build healthier relationships, and overcome difficult situations.

The one-on-one therapy sessions and self-care programs can be accessed through Mantra Health’s Care Hub, while Togetherall hosts the peer-to-peer mental health support community. All three resources are available to students who pay Wellness at Penn’s clinical fee and register for the services online.

Mantra Health is a digital mental health service that partners with higher education institutions to provide the entire student body with comprehensive, high-quality mental health and wellness services. Other colleges that have partnered with Mantra Health include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University, Colgate University, Hamilton College, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and North Carolina State University.

Togetherall is a 24/7 online mental health support community moderated by licensed mental health practitioners that provides a space for people to connect and share their feelings with peers.

Chief Wellness Officer Benoit Dubé told The Daily Pennsylvanian that Wellness at Penn has a duty to continue expanding and adapting its offerings to meet student needs.

“The convenience of having access to services on your schedule, in the palm of your hands, is something that we weren’t quite delivering — a little bit, but not quite,” he said.

After speaking with peer institutions and incorporating students’ feedback, Wellness at Penn sought out a partnership with Mantra Health to help create virtual care options for students.

“[Manta Health] expands capacity in terms of therapy. [Wellness at Penn] offers therapy, but we don’t offer therapy at 9 p.m. — a Mantra provider may be able to do that,” Dubé said.

He added that Mantra Health is an opportunity to extend the work that the Wellness at Penn counseling team offers. For example, if the counseling team identifies frustration tolerance as a treatment goal for a student, the student can utilize the self-care modules as an additional resource to dive into the issue.

“Our therapists can pull from the library of modules to further their work,” he said.

Mantra Health has a library of over 40 short, evidence-based life skill-building modules. Students can take a self assessment to receive module recommendations or join a catalog of modules that have already been curated.

“We get to decide what parts of Mantra Health we want to offer students,” Dubé said. “It’s not one-size-fits-all. It’s a collaborative effort of doing a needs assessment and identifying which of their resources are best suited for our campus.”

The Wellness Express Vending Machine — which recently began operating in the ARCH building — will offer free, over-the-counter wellness products to students. Available products include Plan B emergency contraceptives, menstrual products, COVID-19 rapid tests, condoms, hand sanitizers, and over-the-counter medications like Advil and Tylenol.

The vending machine also offers a variety of kits, including a sleep kit equipped with lavender spray, an eye mask, and ear plugs; a cold care pack equipped with Ibuprofen, disposable thermometers, throat lozenges, and tea bags; and a first aid kit with essential items for treating minor cuts and injuries.

Students can access the vending machine during ARCH’s open hours and can choose items from the machine by tapping their PennCard.

Wellness at Penn first came up with the idea for the vending machine more than a year ago and partnered with the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women, University Life, the Undergraduate Assembly, the Graduate and Professional Student Association, and Penn Reproductive Justice to bring the idea to life.

“The vending machine, much like Mantra, has been a labor of love. It’s been a long time coming,” Wellness at Penn Director of Communications Mary Kate Coghlan told the DP. 

Read original story here.

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