Southern Adventist University’s Counseling Services is now offering online therapy to students. This new service, called Virtual Care, is an addition to the university’s counseling program, not a replacement.
The Accent conducted an interview with Amy Ortiz-Moretta, Southern’s Counseling Services coordinator, via email about Virtual Care. She wrote that Southern partnered with telehealth provider The Virtual Care Group (VCG) in August to provide a virtual therapy option for students. This partnership allows students free access to all of Virtual Care, including remote counseling, life coaching and an all-hours crisis hotline, plus additional information on mental health.
Students can now access Virtual Care for free by registering through the VCG app with their Southern email and zip code. The VCG app is available both online and on mobile devices. Counseling Services posted flyers around campus with a QR code to the app.
“[VCG] provides four main services: mental health counseling, life coaching, 24/7 access to a crisis hotline and a variety of helpful mental health information on their app,” Ortiz-Moretta wrote.
Students’ virtual health appointments with VCG are with licensed professional counselors on the company’s staff, not the university’s staff members, according to Ortiz-Moretta. She said increases in enrollment, in addition to high demand for counseling services, prompted the university to look for more options to best serve students conveniently.
Southern invested in the virtual counseling service so students can access care they need at no additional cost, Ortiz-Moretta added.
She stated in the email: “We are grateful to Southern’s administration for investing in the mental health and wellbeing of all their students.”
For more information, contact care@thevirtualcaregroup.com or amyo@southern.edu.
