Help is a phone call away—all day, every day—for University of Wisconsin Oshkosh students dealing with a mental health crisis.
UWO has partnered with ProtoCall, an after-hours mental health emergency service, to extend the Counseling Center’s capability to assess and provide immediate action in a crisis.
Art Munin
Any student may contact the service directly and anyone may call on behalf of a student in need of crisis services. To access this service, call the Counseling Center at (920) 424-2061 and when directed select option 2 to connect with the afterhours emergency service.
“ProtoCall does not offer therapy in a traditional sense. It is company that triages a college student in crisis, identifies a plan of action and loops back the student to the Counseling Center for follow up and continued support,” said Art Munin, interim vice chancellor of student affairs and dean of students.
“ProtoCall is an extra layer of support for all UWO students across our three campuses anytime the Counseling Center is not available, such as weekends and afterhours.”
That extra layer comes as the end of the fall semester approaches and the pandemic continues.
“ProtoCall provides access to a counselor after hours to assess and provide interventions and suggestions for crisis stabilization. This is helpful to students who engage in services at the center and for all students in distress,” said Sandra Cox, Counseling Center director.
“The current times have created many challenges for most human beings. It is hard to know for sure if this is the most challenging time in history for college students, but it has been in my 25 years in a college counseling center,” Cox said.
Students are impacted much in the same way all Americans have been over the past 18 months.
“The ways in which we maintain our well-being have been challenged greatly. Students struggle to connect with others, feel safe on many levels and use positive coping skills for wellness. The collective feeling of suffering in many ways in our world, nation, community, home and life have greatly impacted students’ mental health,” she said.
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