Partnership will bring greater access to quality mental health care to college athletes

BALLENTINE, S.C. and BOSTON, Oct. 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hilinski's Hope Foundation (H3H), founded by Mark and Kym Hilinski to honor the legacy of their son Tyler today announced a partnership with Amwell® (NYSE: AMWL), a leader in digital health care enablement, to give college athletes and their communities greater access to quality mental health care. This partnership, launched during 2022 College Football Mental Health Week will provide student athletes on up to 10 pilot campuses with important tools and resources to help them manage their mental health and wellbeing.

As part of the partnership, Amwell will provide a digital health coach mobile app to help student athletes manage their mental health and wellbeing any time, from anywhere. This tool is built on years of research and leverages Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to provide self-guided programs, and can incorporate human coaches or escalate care to virtual visits with a licensed behavioral health provider or in-person settings depending on the individual patient needs. The digital care coach mobile app will make it easy for student athletes to access the mental health care they need at the time and in the mode of their comfort level.

Fifty six percent of college students report having fair or poor mental health. Even more staggering, one in five students have struggled with suicidal ideation during college. Mental health stigma often has kept students and athletes from seeking help. However, as stigma has begun to decline and more students start to seek support from counselors and other mental health professionals, the demand is far outpacing supply, with students typically having to wait weeks or months to get a mental health care appointment. While colleges aim to find resources to hire trained mental health professionals to meet demand, digital health resources can provide students on-demand access to both information and clinical professionals when they need it most.

"We are facing a growing crisis. The situation is particularly difficult on college campuses, where many students are silently struggling with significant mental health challenges," said Mark Hilinski, Co-Founder of H3H. "We are honored to partner with Amwell to help extend our mutual mission of providing quality mental health resources. This new program marks an important milestone in our work, as Hilinski's Hope will have the capability to support student athletes 24/7/365 with a resource in the palm of their hand. We are proud this partnership will allow us to offer additional educational tools as well as a pathway to receiving therapeutic support to meet the nationwide calls for more behavioral health resources on college campuses."

"Amwell behavioral health solutions are comprehensive, personalized, and effective. They are built to support individuals throughout their entire mental health journey, reducing care access barriers and improving outcomes," said Matt McCormick, group vice president, Amwell Behavioral Healthcare. "It's an honor to partner with H3H, who has already made a difference in the lives of so many college athletes. We look forward to helping them extend their reach and give those in need easy access to the care they deserve."

H3H works to raise awareness, eliminate stigma, and provide mental health resources. Throughout the year, Mark and Kym Hilinski visit college campuses across the country to speak with student athletes and share their son's story. This year, H3H partnered with over 115 universities for College Football Mental Health Week.

For more on H3H or to sign up to learn more about the care coach mobile app, please visit: http://hilinskishope.org/join. To learn more about Amwell Behavioral Health Solutions, please click here. 

Hilinski's Hope Foundation is a non-profit organization formed to promote awareness and education of mental health and wellness for student athletes. The Foundation's mission is to educate, advocate, and eliminate the stigma associated with mental illness, while funding programs that provide student-athletes with the tools and resources that support their mental health and wellness. Founded in 2018 by Mark and Kym Hilinski to honor the life of their son Tyler, H3H helps colleges and universities save lives, eliminate stigma, and scale mental wellness programs for student-athletes. H3H does this by sharing Tyler's story, connecting students with mental health resources, and assisting universities to institutionalize best practices.

Amwell is a leading digital care delivery platform in the United States and globally, connecting and enabling providers, insurers, patients, and innovators to deliver greater access to more affordable, higher quality care. Amwell believes that digital care delivery will transform healthcare. The Company offers a single, comprehensive platform to support all digital health needs from urgent to acute and post-acute care, as well as chronic care management and healthy living. With over a decade of experience, Amwell powers digital health solutions for over 2,000 hospitals and 55 health plan partners with over 36,000 employers, covering over 80 million lives. For more information, please visit https://business.amwell.com/.

American Well, Amwell, SilverCloud, Conversa, Converge and Carepoint are registered trademarks or trademarks of American Well Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.

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SOURCE Hilinski's Hope Foundation