Ohio State's Counseling and Consultation Service has teamed up with Uwill, a student teletherapy service, to provide free teletherapy services to all students. Credit: Amal Saeed

Ohio State’s Counseling and Consultation Service has teamed up with Uwill, a student teletherapy service, to provide free teletherapy services to all students. Credit: Amal Saeed

Ohio State now offers free teletherapy services to all students — whether they are undergraduate, graduate, professional or live on a regional campus — due to a $2.5 million mental health award from the state of Ohio.

Funds were allocated in the 2024-25 state budget to provide mental health and behavioral resources to institutions of higher education across Ohio, Ryan Lovell, associate vice president for health and well-being in the Office of Student Life, said in an email. Ohio State applied to receive funds and was granted $2.5 million to bring “specialized teletherapy, academic accommodation support and additional mental health and well-being resources and programs to students,” Lovell said.

The university is providing teletherapy — which Lovell defined as “using technology to provide counseling services” — through Uwill, “one of the leading mental health and wellness solution providers for colleges and students,” Lovell said.

Lovell said with Uwill, students have the ability to choose a therapist based on their needs and preferences, like focus area, gender, language or ethnicity. Uwill has therapists with day, night and weekend availability, so students have more flexibility in booking appointments. Additionally, students can choose their appointment time — whether it is by video, phone, chat or message.

All students can receive up to three free sessions through Uwill, Lovell said. If those three sessions are completed, students are automatically booked for two supplementary sessions via a backup pool of teletherapy slots. After five sessions have been completed, a button will appear for a student to request additional support, which will redirect them to the Counseling and Consultation Services — or CCS — team for further care.

Micky Sharma, director of CCS in the Office of Student Life, said in an email that access to teletherapy is important to match students’ schedules.

“Teletherapy can be of assistance for students whose schedule or life circumstance may make it difficult to come to CCS for regular in-person appointments,” Sharma said.  “For example, [Uwill] offers evening and weekend appointments. CCS does offer evening telehealth sessions by appointment only.”

Though teletherapy through Uwill is a new option for Ohio State students, CCS has been offering teletherapy since 2020, Sharma said.

Lovell said Ohio State expanded its teletherapy offerings because of data that shows mental health can have a strong impact on academic performance. 

“Teletherapy represents an important tool in our efforts to support students’ mental health,” Lovell said. “This expansion of our existing service provides additional flexibility of offerings, allowing students to choose a therapist based on their unique needs and preferences, at a time that fits their busy schedules, and by the appointment type preferred. We do not want costs to be an impediment to treatment and, this program, like other services offered through Counseling and Consultation Service, is at no cost to students.”

Lovell said the university also collaborated closely with the Undergraduate Student Government — or USG — to expand its mental health resources.

“We are grateful to the work of Bobby McAlpine (USG President), Madison Mason (at the time, USG VP), and other student government leaders for their conversations with Uwill and the connections they created for Ohio State to explore this partnership,” Lovell said.

To learn more about Uwill or register for a telehealth appointment, students can visit Counseling and Consultation Services’ website.

This story was updated Aug. 23 at 9:42 a.m. to define teletherapy for clarity.