Revisiting the Community Conversation on Mental Health Support for Online Learners
Concurrent Session 4
Brief Abstract
COVID-19 disruptions exacerbated demand for mental health services at colleges and universities but a lack of clarity on how to respond to the needs of online learners remains. Join another participant-driven discussion on the challenges, limitations, and opportunities for designing mental health services for online learners.
Presenters
Extended Abstract
Prior to COVID-19 faculty and student services providers working closely with online populations were already voicing concerns regarding: 1) identifying and working with “students of concern” (SOC) in online populations; 2) perceived increases in SOC in online populations without close or easy access to physical campuses; 3) apparent gaps in university documentation, guidelines, and training related to SOC in online populations; and 4) a lack of clarity in student and faculty facing materials and resources on the availability of mental health services to online populations.
The sudden pivot to remote learning, the prospect of modified operations for the foreseeable future, and the stress and strain placed on students and faculty created even more challenges. Emergency regulatory actions during the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic did allow easier access to telehealth and other remote services, but those changes were often temporary and limited in scope.
Join us for the next participant-driven discussion on the challenges, limitations, and opportunities for designing mental health services for online learners. This session will build on contributions made by colleagues at OLC Accelerate 2019 and 2020 as well as at UPCEA’s Regional and National conferences.
During this session, we will work collectively to understand the needs of online learners, identify challenges and limitations, gather strategies from different institutions working toward solutions, and set a roadmap for future collaboration and advocacy. We also will look at important emerging questions around support for prospective students, for learners in non-credit/professional education courses, and for remote staff members after they have assisted a student or learner in need.
This session will depend heavily on open, group conversation around designing and delivering accessible mental health supports for online learners. Participants will be encouraged to share their research, their models, their challenges, their differences of opinion, or anything else relevant to the conversation. With consent of the group, notes and other contributions to collaborative documents will be anonymized and serve as a takeaway item for participants as well as a basis for future conversations.
Participants do not need to have expertise or experience in mental health services to attend this session. The session is intended for anyone with an interest in the subject.