By Sarah Wang | Staff Writer
Mental health is one of the top concerns for the Baylor Counseling Center. With an aim to establish preventative measures and early interventions, the Counseling Center recently introduced Togetherall — a mental health support group that is designed to prevent problems from escalating to a clinical level.
Togetherall is a 24/7 online platform for anonymous conversations and is clinically moderated. The peer-to-peer community serves students from universities across the country and around the world.
According to Dr. Randal Boldt, senior associate director of the Counseling Center, Togetherall is different from traditional care sources provided by Baylor, which are more clinically focused.
“It’s not meant to be mental health treatment,” Boldt said. “It’s meant to be community-building — a place to belong and to offer support.”
Dr. Kallie Kobold, staff psychologist at the Counseling Center, said Togetherall is distinguished by its global nature, as well as its availability at any time of day.
“Even if it be 2 in the morning, you could log on to see other people who — even from around the world — may be going through something similar that you can give support to them or even receive the support around,” Kobold said. “I think that is a unique feature of it.”
To ensure a positive environment, Boldt said some of the peers on the platform have been trained to help ensure the conversations are healthy and safe. In addition, mental health clinicians are on the platform watching the conversations.
“If they ever identify a risk, then they would reach out to that student and try to provide additional resources,” Boldt said.
Boldt said students should explore the platform to find the community that is the best fit for them, where they feel the most comfortable and safe. He said strong relationships can even be like vaccines for mental health problems.
“My hope is that it provides a great place for students to find support with each other and to offer support to each other,” Boldt said. “If students can find that place to belong and find community, then it will be preventative as well.”
With the semester wrapping up, Kobold said the platform can be a great resource for students to release stress, since the Counseling Center is only open certain hours and has limited services.
“Togetherall is a great thing,” Kobold said. “Especially like with finals, you’re going to be up at all different times of the hours. Sometimes people just need to talk and get it out, and that’s all they need.”
Students can visit the registration page through the Togetherall website and use their Baylor ID and email to create an account.
