Tougaloo College Announces Partnership With Meta Tele-therapy

Tougaloo, Miss., November 1, 2020 - Tougaloo College has announced plans to partner with META tele-therapy to provide mental and behavioral health services to Tougaloo students.

META offers real-time, video counseling with licensed mental health professionals that can be accessed by an app on a mobile device. As the nation’s first tele-therapy platform designed solely for college students, META offers an additional benefit of receiving behavioral health services without having to visit an on-campus location. The META platform was made possible by a joint initiative between Meta Pro, Inc., and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) with generous funding provided at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. 

“The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to disrupt our daily lives and people are dealing with anxiety, depression, stress, anger and other stressors, which can have an adverse impact on their mental health. Our partnership with META tele-therapy is a step in the right direction for ensuring that students, faculty, and staff have access to quality mental health care during these challenging times. Especially in a time when we are trying to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, tele-therapy is an excellent option for the Tougaloo family to obtain these vital services using technology for little or no cost. We are grateful to Meta Pro, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, and Educational Credit Management Corporation for making mental health access a priority for HBCUs,” said President Dr. Carmen J. Walters. 

Coupled with the stress and anxiety many college students and employees already face and the growing feelings of isolation from the COVID-19 pandemic, remote counseling has become necessary to address their needs. This partnership provides the college with well-rounded mental and behavioral health offerings, complete with self-service content and access to immediate counseling services, providing convenience and a sense of privacy. Once the app is downloaded and the registration is fully complete, students and employees receive chat, video, or voice counseling sessions through an immediate connection or have the option to schedule a future counseling session. META is designed to allow the filtering of providers by a variety of characteristics; including, gender and therapy style, so that students and employees can select a provider whom best matches their individual needs.

“Our students and employees need and deserve access to all of the mental and behavioral health services available and META Tele-therapy offers a convenient way to provide those services,” said Dana West, Ph.D., executive director of the Tougaloo College Health and Wellness Center. “The efforts and generosity of TMCF and META have allowed us to expand our mental health resources for students and employees at Tougaloo.”

For more information on the Tougaloo College’s behavioral health offerings or the Owens Health and Wellness Center, please contact Dana West, Ph.D. at (601) 977-6179 or dwest@tougaloo.edu.