News

Mental health kiosks headed for higher ed

Public mental health screener teaming up with kiosk developer to help colleges and universities enhance their campus communities by helping students screen themselves for mental health issues with self-screening kiosks.

April 15, 2015

Screening for Mental Health Inc., the provider of large-scale mental health screenings for the public, is teaming up with self-service systems developer Advanced Kiosks to help colleges and universities enhance their campus communities by helping students screen themselves for mental health issues.

Through SMH's new MindKare program, higher education institutions will have the opportunity to put interactive kiosks in public, high-traffic areas where anyone passing by can take an anonymous self-assessment to determine whether they might be at risk for common mental health issues such as depression, anxiety or eating disorders, according to an announcement from SMH.

Depression affects almost 10 percent of the U.S. population in any given year, and many people first begin to exhibit signs of depression during their college years, according to the announcement. Anonymous screenings are proven to help people seek necessary treatment because respondents are more likely to give honest responses and, thus, more likely to take the assessment's findings seriously, SMH said.

MindKare kiosks feature the ability to conduct "checkups from the neck up," while taking a holistic approach to health and wellness, according to SMH. The combination of SMH's online screening platform with Advanced Kiosks' hardware and software creates a multipurpose system designed to address individuals' immediate health needs while building and enriching campus communities. Each MindKare kiosk hosts a fully integrated software suite featuring mental health screenings for colleges and universities and can also include the EventsNOW calendar aggregator that allows users to browse all the events happening across their college campus. Students can stop and reflect on their personal well-being before reaching out to engage in whichever activities or events they find meaningful, the health screening firm said, and by finding their place within the larger campus community, students combat loneliness and social isolation, two of the main causes of depression.

"In this era of social media and constant electronic chatter, Advanced Kiosks' products are a simple and elegant way to foster connectedness and support help-seeking behaviors," said Michelle Holmberg, director of programs for SMH, in the announcement.

"We believe in Screening for Mental Health's vision to see mental health treated with the same gravity as physical health," Advanced Kiosks President and owner Howard Horn said. "This is an important cause, and we are honored to be a part of it."

Thanks to a combination of crowdfunding and support from the Scattergood Foundation, Drexel University in Philadelphia will host the first two mental health screening kiosks on a college campus; one in the recreation center and one at its family health services center.

"Having MindKare kiosks on your campus sends a message to students, faculty and staff that this is a place that cares about who you are and wants you to do well and be well," Holmberg said. "It's a very powerful message."