American College Health Foundation and UnitedHealthcare StudentResources Partner to Address Campus Well-Being and Mental Health

SILVER SPRING, Md., March 28, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The American College Health Foundation (ACHF) and UnitedHealthcare StudentResources have announced a three-year partnership to develop and launch a program that addresses college and university students' increasing mental health care and well-being needs.

The partnership will kick off next month by convening numerous universities to conduct research on innovations in campus mental health care and well-being services, resulting in the creation of the "National College Well-Being and Depression Playbook" and launch of the National College WellStart Program.

The National College WellStart Program will bring together experts in the field of college mental health and well-being to create a comprehensive training program for incoming first-year students. The program will help teach new students how to maintain positive psychology – the strengths that enable individuals and communities to thrive – and provide them with resources to help them thrive in a college environment.

The National College Well-Being and Depression Playbook will serve as a comprehensive resource on evidence-based and experimental innovations being applied on college campuses to address the surging demand for on-campus mental health services, and will provide best practices and case studies on how colleges are building cultures of well-being.

"With the rise in the number of students coming to campus with a variety of mental health issues, many colleges and universities are struggling to meet the increasing demand for mental health services," said Devin Jopp, EdD, Executive Director of ACHF. "This new program will identify and share best practices and techniques that can be used to help meet this demand, and provide a much-needed resource for schools looking to build innovative solutions to ensure their students' mental health and well-being."

"Our partnership with The American College Health Foundation enables us to identify innovative and effective methods that colleges can use to treat mental illness on campus as well as evidence-based programs that can help students flourish," said Bill Truxal, President of UnitedHealthcare StudentResources. "We believe this program can help promote and enhance the well-being of our nation's college students by researching, testing and sharing innovative practices in campus well-being."

The National College Well-Being & Depression Playbook and the launch of the National College WellStart Program are expected to be released in 2020. 

About ACHF
The mission of the American College Health Foundation (ACHF) is to promote, improve, and advance the health, well-being, and overall success of college students. The ACHF accomplishes this mission by funding sustainable college health initiatives and programs, including education, research, advocacy and professional development in partnership with the American College Health Association and its members. For more information about the Foundation, visit www.acha.org/ACHF.

About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people live healthier lives and making the health system work better for everyone by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. In the United States, UnitedHealthcare offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 1.2 million physicians and care professionals, and 6,500 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. The company also provides health benefits and delivers care to people through owned and operated health care facilities in South America. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified health care company. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at *www.uhc.com or follow @UHC on Twitter.

UnitedHealthcare StudentResources (www.uhcsr.com) is a UnitedHealthcare business that provides single, year-round coverage to individual students at more than 500 colleges and universities.

Media Contact:
Rachel Mack
American College Health Association
[email protected]
(443) 270-4560 

SOURCE American College Health Association