This week, I sat down with Nycole Goldberg (Alumni, Class of 2020) to talk about the CTC telehealth service at Andrews. She explains some of the opportunities it provides as well as her passions and motivations in regard to mental health.
What is the new telehealth service? Could you explain a little more about it?
Telehealth services are provided through Academic Live Care. This is a new service at AU this year, with services being covered at 100% by the university. Through telehealth, students have access to physician and urgent care, nutritionist and dietician services, mental health counseling sessions, psychiatric care, as well as access to a 24/7 mental health crisis line ( 1-866-349-5575). This service is meant to be utilized when student’s/staff’s location or schedule do not align with the in-person services already provided through AU.
Who is this service for? Who is able to utilize it?
This service is for the students, staff, faculty, and their spouses.
What was the motivation for starting this service? How did it begin?
AU values total bodily health. We realized there was a need for additional services when some students/faculty/staff/spouses expressed that the services available in person on campus were not matching up with their schedules. Furthermore, Andrews has a large number of students who complete their schooling online from all over the country. These students are still part of the AU community and it was important to us to find a way to provide support to these students as well.
What is your position in the CTC? Could you explain your role and what you do?
I am new to this position with the CTC, but I am not new to Andrews! I did my graduate work (MA Clinical Mental Health Counseling) here and served as a clinical mental health intern for the CTC for the 2019-2020 school year before being hired in August 2022 as a staff counselor. I also fill the role of Prevention Coordinator for AU campus. The role of Prevention Coordinator is to promote the psychological and emotional wellbeing of AU students and foster a campus environment where mental health services are normalized and students embrace a healthy lifestyle.
What are some of your passions and motivations that relate to this?
One of my biggest passions in my career is early intervention. I wholeheartedly believe that taking care of our mental health before there is a crisis is the way that we as a country, and even more so as a society in general, will begin to see the number of serious mental health disorders decrease. In addition to that, I would love to see the stigma surrounding talking about our mental health and seeking services for mental health end. Research has shown that college aged individuals are experiencing the highest rates of mental illness among other populations so early intervention and working to end the stigma on a university campus is a great place to start to see the most difference. Filling the role of Prevention Coordinator at AU allows me to act out both of those passions simultaneously.
What are your thoughts on how mental health on college campuses can be improved?
I’m going to continue on my soapbox about early intervention and ending the stigma surrounding mental health. While colleges are making bounds and leaps to ensure that mental health services are available to students, and that is the first step, colleges can also improve mental health by being more proactive and equipping students to deal with mental health issues before they become too large to manage. By doing so, fewer students will need crisis intervention services and those that need them will be able to get them sooner because more students will have the tools to work through problems earlier independently. To improve the overall health of the student population, I think there are 4 main areas colleges can target:
1. Empowering students to identify their strengths and increase overall resilience.
2. Provide stress-management strategies and resources.
3. Take preventative measures: Research shows that helping the majority of students lower their risk of serious mental illness improves the outcomes for the larger population more than JUST focusing on those at the highest risk.
4. Launch wellness programs where students, faculty and staff are trained and encouraged to work together to identify others in distress, intervening with them and referring them to appropriate resources to improve mental health and total body wellness overall.
What is your goal for this service? What do you hope to achieve?
Our goal for telehealth is that one person affiliated with AU gets the help they need that they otherwise wouldn’t have gotten. Moreover, we hope that this service will improve the ability we have to provide health care services and mental health support services to our students, staff, faculty, and their spouses.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.