Jayna Bonnette, left, and Sarah Chavez navigate the TimelyCare app in the Student Health Center. UP photo by Emily Flores
Lamar University’s Student Health Center is partnering with the TimelyCare app to provide a mental health platform for students.
Students interested in using the app will need to pay a $41 health center fee and use their Lamar email to sign-up. After payment, students will have access to all functions on the app.
“It has 24-7 access throughout the whole year for mental health care,” Jayna Bonnette, assistant director of health education, said. “Our main point is letting the students know that it is available and provided by Lamar.”
The app’s main function is online counseling and mental health care, but it also has other functions that are available for students.
Talk Now is a crisis counseling option within the app that aids students who are in an immediate crisis.
“Let’s say it’s after hours at Lamar or it’s a holiday, so our counselors aren’t available and students really need to talk to someone,” Bonnette said. “There’s an option to get connected with a provider on the app in minutes.
“Students also get nine free counseling sessions a year through the app, but there’s a lot more than just counseling.”
Health coaching is an extension that caters towards basic wellness goals. Coaches can create meals, physical activities, and both nutrition and therapy plans that are specialized for each student’s specific needs.
The app also has a function called journeys, a self-care module where students can access programs such as meditation, yoga, and grounding techniques that help with sleep and anxiety. These modules are for students who need a walk through if they’re struggling with depression or other mental health issues and want aid outside of counseling, Bonnette said.
Since implementing the app, the Student Health Center has seen an influx of students willing to talk about mental health topics, Sara Chavez, health education program coordinator, said, whether that be for personal affairs or student organizations wanting to advocate for the app.
“We get a lot of positive feedback from students who will come up and say how much they benefitted from TimelyCare,” Chavez said. “It’s really nice to see. And having resources for students who are wanting to better their health is our goal at the end of the day.”
Daniella Z. Lopez-Rosa, senior business management major, said she found the app through her job as a peer health educator at the health center.
“I wanted to learn more about resources for selfcare and how to create a routine when you have ADHD, and I wanted it to be at my own pace rather than scheduling an appointment,” Lopez-Rosa said. “I was someone who would Google everything, and I find TimelyCare has better resources than just searching on the internet.”
Lopez-Rosa said when she felt out of her comfort zone while studying abroad she used the community feature on TimelyCare, which allows people to post anonymously and lets other users reply and comment on her post. Lopez-Rosa said she was also able to find people who shared her experience on the app and to take their advice on how to feel comfortable and less alone while in another country.
Though counseling on the app is online, patient confidentiality works the same as in-person.
“Each of their counselors is licensed across the nation, and so there are standards for federal and state guidelines that they have to abide by to ensure HIPAA and confidentiality are not breached,” Bonnette said. “How our Student Health Center operates with confidentiality, it’s much the same for TimelyCare.”
Through the partnership, the health center and TimelyCare both conduct research to update the app when needed.
“We’re constantly learning about mental health, whether that be with talking with our counselors about what they’re noticing across the student body or on a national level,” Bonnette said. “We also do a survey every two years to assess student health and wellness, so it gives us a broad picture of what’s changing within the current year.
“As far as TimelyCare, they stay on top well by offering webinars for staff to attend so we have a way to communicate openly to address our concerns, or they can let us know things that they’re noticing, trend-wise, in the mental health area.”
TimelyCare representatives are in place to advocate for each college’s needs in their system.
“We have a TimelyCare representative specifically for Lamar,” Chavez said. “So, if we ever have any technical, staff training, or educational type questions, we have direct communication with the company.”
For more information, call the Student Health Center at 409-880-8466.