Finding Ourselves Anew in the Emptiness of Third-Party Vendors: Over Promises and Under Delivery

Document Type

Journal Article

Role

Author

Published In

Journal of College Student Mental Health

Volume

39

Issue

4

First Page

759

Last Page

775

Publication Date

10-2025

Abstract

College counseling centers’ increasing use of third party vendors has happened so quickly that there has been little time to explore the reasons for this development and what it means for our centers. To address this lacuna, we propose four key “myths” that drive dependence on these vendors: 1) It is too expensive to staff counseling centers. 2) Something is better than nothing. 3) There are not enough counselors. And 4) students want on-demand services. Using information gathered from a survey sent to the AUCCCD list server and discussions with representatives of third-party vendors we explore the pros and cons of these services and offer thoughts on how counseling centers can engage with them thoughtfully.

Keywords

Absorption models, college counseling, teletherapy, third party vendors

Share

COinS