Stuck in a cul de sac of care: Therapy Assistance Online and the platformization of mental health services for college students

Abstract

Many reports indicate higher education counseling centers are finding it difficult to keep pace with the growing rates of stress, anxiety, depression, and sleeping difficulties in undergraduate populations. Some universities are turning to telepsychology, or means of providing mental health care through videoconferencing, software, and other digital tools. This article analyzes one such platform, therapy assistance online (TAO), through a critical walkthrough of the platform’s self-help modules to consider how they communicate and construct care as individual labor which generates data for the platform. We argue that by removing traces of the therapist’s body and, in turn, dialogic communication, the platform produces modes of neoliberal self-care operationalized through data extraction, where the individual user works through modules while providing personal information to the platform. While TAO is offered as a solution to overcrowded and understaffed care facilities, it demonstrates some limitations of relying on third-party platforms to care for students.