On January 31, Saint Xavier University officially ended its partnership with the online therapy company TalkSpace.
The university previously offered TalkSpace to its students as a mental health resource in addition to the Counseling Center located in the Driehaus Center. This online service offered students the “opportunity to text with their therapist at any time, anywhere, and to have one monthly video session for thirty minutes” as stated by Keiana Winters, P.h.D., the Director of the Counseling Center.
Students had the opportunity to use the TalkSpace program for a more flexible way of connecting with mental health professionals.
Natalie Chibe, a sophomore and avid user of TalkSpace, stated that she believes “receiving adequate and convenient mental health care should not be limited because of your schedule, and Talkspace eliminated me from having to make that choice”.
According to Dr. Winters, about 42 students out of the 3,749 students enrolled at Saint Xavier University, or 1.12% of the student population, were actively using the program . Winters stated that they “saw 103 students sign up for it, but only 42 of them were active users”.Winters expressed that “we wanted to be able to provide students with as much care as the University could afford to make sure that there was no cost to the students”
As the Counseling Center is currently fully staffed, Winters stated that she felt: “with the opening up after post-COVID, students are more likely wanting to see a person and have that one-on-one connection in person. We felt as though it wasn’t being utilized to what the students wanted, so we decided to disable TalkSpace”.
Winters continued, stating that in the wake of TalkSpace being disabled, the Counseling Center plans to “accept graduate-level interns to be able to reach the students” as well as making sure to provide students with all the resources they could.
Following the cancelation of the TalkSpace program, students relying on the program were given the option to “reapply for in-person therapy or pay for Talkspace out of pocket”, according to Chibe.
While the decision to disable the TalkSpace program was a fairly recent choice, there was still a considerable amount of thought put into the decision-making process.
Winters spoke of the factors considered when deciding to end the program, stating that they “measured how often we are doing virtual sessions versus students wanting to come in, whether or not the students wanted it, if they enjoyed it, [and] could we provide something better?”.
Chibe stated that she “loved the convenience of having a therapist and psychiatrist in my pocket at all times”, having found the service to be “extremely helpful and convenient”.
Ultimately, the decision was made “case by case”. Winters continued: “we were trying to see what the numbers looked like over the years and it didn’t seem like a lot of students were interested”.
Winters stated that she “hopes the students aren’t too disappointed”. The Counseling Center is “constantly looking for ways to outsource and provide more opportunities for the students whether it’s education or whether it’s something fun on campus”. The Counseling Center is also “constantly adjusting to make sure that the students get everything that they need”.The Counseling Center can be contacted via phone or email, at 773-298-4045 and counselingservices@sxu.edu respectively.
*This article was corrected to properly refer to Dr. Winters via the AP Style Guide*
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