Introducing HELPme – A New Solution that Provides Centralized Mental Health and Basic Needs Resources for Higher Ed Students and Staff

Recently, we launched an exciting new mobile app that provides support and resources for basic needs, mental health, and student resilience. Let’s take a closer look at HELPme.

We are facing a true mental health crisis on college campuses today. Research shows that 73% of students experience some mental health crisis during college.The transition to college is a different experience for everyone. Day-to-day stressors, shutdowns, financial crises, and social issues have amplified the stress, anxiety, and depression many students are experiencing. Still, it can be particularly difficult for students with social anxiety, high family expectations, body image issues, sexuality or gender identity issues, or relationship difficulties. Here are some of the challenges facing college students.

• Social anxiety, general anxiety, test anxiety, or panic attacks
• Depression, lack of energy or motivation, hopelessness, being overwhelmed, low self-esteem, homesickness, loneliness
• Relationship difficulties (emotional and physical aspects of intimate relationships)
• Past or recent trauma, abuse, sexual assault, or stalking

Many higher ed institutions have limited clinical services and mental health personnel on campus, and students are reluctant to seek for fear of being isolated or marginalized.

Improve Student Outcomes

Many factors contribute to student retention. It is relatively easy to track students at risk by tracking grades and attendance, but it is much more difficult to predict which students will leave their programs due to mental health or basic needs challenges. With HELPme, students can get the help they need discreetly, without stigma or being marginalized.

Increase Access to Mental Health and Community Services with HELPme

More than ever, schools are faced with providing more mental health services with fewer resources. With our new HELPme platform, schools and communities can add additional support resources to provide students and staff with the services they need to improve their emotional well-being. With HELPme, higher ed communities have access to:

Direct Connection to School - Students and staff can privately and directly connect with the school and community-based resources to request assistance using a fully customizable state-of-the-art reporting platform. HELPme brings support communities together to provide for everyday needs such as food, transportation, clothing, shelter, medical, or mental health needs such as bullying, anxiety, or domestic violence.

Crisis Text Line – Users can connect directly to Crisis Text Line counselors from the HELPme platform. Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7, high-quality anonymous text-based mental health support and crisis intervention by a community of trained counselors to support people in their moments of need.

Preloaded Support Resources - HELPme comes preloaded with links to crisis helplines and resources in one easy-to-access place.

Always On - Emergencies are never convenient. Crisis Center is operational 24/7/365 days per year. HELPme is a cloud-based system with a mobile app which means you don’t need new hardware or integrate with your existing systems.

Trauma-Informed Resilience Education - The program address anxiety disorders, grit, resilience, suicide prevention, sexual assault, domestic violence, depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, and PTSD. More than 100 Trauma-Informed Resilience Education modules are available for higher ed students and are organized into four categories - Cope, Thrive, Nourish, and Heal.

• COPE: This includes the research surrounding building protection and resiliency through improved coping skills, social-emotional skills (feeling-emotion regulation and assertiveness), community connectedness, and relationships.
  
• THRIVE: This category covers the protective factors that improve mindfulness-based stress reduction and stress management skills, build self-care and work-life balance, and enhance financial health and literacy.
  
• NOURISH: Within this category, we improve the protective factors known to decrease the risk for both obesity and disordered eating, including understanding evidence-based dietetics models, mindful eating, improving body image and body esteem, nourishing healthy relationships, and building resilience through the arts.
  
• HEAL: The heal section includes the DSM library of psychoeducational content and CBT modules that improve mental health literacy (assisting individuals in understanding their mental health and how to connect to treatment or get the conversation started to support others in need of care). The topics in this section include common mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, substance use, and eating disorders. There are also resiliency builders that include suicide prevention and sources of strength to assist individuals in overcoming adversity.