Premier Provider of Remote Evaluation and Teletherapy Services Delivers Over 7 Million Sessions to PK-12 Students

Presence announces milestone amid rising need for special education and mental health services, shortages of qualified providers

Milestone reflects continued momentum of company, which recently expanded services to include direct-to-family teleassessments

NEW YORK, Jan. 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A reflection of the continued, rising need for special education and mental health services in public schools, teletherapy provider Presence today announced it has surpassed the milestone of delivering 7 million teletherapy sessions to students across the nation. It has delivered more than 1 million sessions in the last year alone.

Presence is a premier solution for PreK–12 remote special education-related and mental health evaluation and teletherapy services. Since its founding in 2009, Presence has partnered with over 10,000 schools in 47 states, spanning rural, urban, and virtual settings.

"The need for special education, related services and mental health services is rising, as is the demand for qualified clinicians to provide those services," said Presence CEO Kate Eberle Walker. "When not addressed, school staff face backlogs and burnout, students don't receive timely services, and families worry. After 15 years and 7 million sessions delivered, Presence has proven teletherapy is a beneficial way to address these urgent concerns, unlocking the full potential of students and the staff who support them."

The Presence therapy platform is designed by clinicians, for clinicians, with the goal of enhancing human connection between a therapist and their student. Some of the clinicians in the Presence network, who have been with Presence for over a decade, have individually delivered over 10,000 teletherapy sessions to students with diverse needs.

"Since I've started with Presence, it's grown so much, and I've been witness to how many more providers we have and how many more schools we're serving," said Sylvia Freire, a speech language pathologist who has delivered over 15,000 teletherapy sessions to students. "It's part of why I want to continue with Presence, because we're reaching so many individuals, and we're really making an impact in the community."

Today more than 2,000 clinicians across multiple disciplines, including speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, school psychologists and mental health professionals, utilize Presence's online platform to support the full spectrum of their work—from case management to planning to therapy delivery to documentation. The platform has thousands of digital learning resources, games and activities, including materials from well-known therapy content publishers and a breadth of curated assessments from marquee test publishers.

By using Presence's network of clinicians to provide secure, efficient, and engaging online therapy solutions, schools have been able to reduce heavy caseloads and help more students reach their Individualized Education Program (IEP) and mental health goals.

"[Parents] want to know their child is going to be able to thrive and be successful," said Kimberly Patella, a coordinator in the special education office at Corpus Christi Independent School District (CCISD) in Texas. "With support from Presence, we as a team can make that happen."

Building on its milestone of 7 million sessions delivered, Presence has also expanded its services and partnerships. Presence recently launched Via, which directly offers families a full spectrum of remote evaluation services, and partnered with Move This World, a proactive and preventative mental health platform for students, to address the growing need for comprehensive mental wellness programs in schools.

In addition, Presence welcomed new leaders to its executive team and board of directors. All of the appointees bring deep expertise and experience in education and education technology, emphasizing Presence's commitment to empower all who serve students with diverse needs.

This commitment has been recognized nationally and globally. Recently Presence won an Excellence in Equity Award, a Tech & Learning Award of Excellence, a Tech Edvocate Award, and it was listed among the GSV 150 and certified™ by Great Place to Work^® for four years in a row.

About Presence
Inspired to drive solutions for the national shortage of school clinicians, Presence is unlocking the potential of schools and clinicians by removing traditional barriers to success through an elevated approach to teletherapy. As a trusted leader since 2009, Presence is innovating how schools assess and address student special education-related and mental health needs. By equipping a nationwide network of teletherapy providers with award-winning technology and end-to-end clinical support, Presence is helping to meet the needs of schools, students, and clinicians today—wherever they are. Presence is teletherapy, elevated.

SOURCE Presence