Uwill — a teletherapy service available to Dartmouth students for free — will now offer longer counseling sessions, Dartmouth Student Government announced in a campus-wide email on Oct. 14. The College’s updated Uwill contract increases the maximum session length from 30 to 50 minutes, according to Dartmouth Counseling Center director Heather Earle.
The College first signed a two-year contract with Uwill in November 2022, Earle wrote in an email statement to The Dartmouth. Dartmouth entered another two-year contract with Uwill in September 2024 after receiving “positive feedback” on the program through DSG’s weekly meetings and surveys, according to student body president Chukwuka Odigbo ’25.
Since 2022, up to 28% of undergraduate and graduate students have used at least one of Uwill’s counseling services — which include teletherapy appointments, mental health modules and a 24-hour crisis line that connects students with crisis counselors without a time limit, Earle wrote. While the service is popular, “criticism” of the 30-minute limit on teletherapy sessions led to the extended time offerings, she explained.
In addition to the new 50-minute option, the College’s renewed contract maintains the 30-minute teletherapy offering to accommodate student scheduling constraints, Counseling Center associate director Alexandra Lenzen said. While some students expressed interest in adding 50-minute teletherapy sessions, others said they “appreciat[ed]” the 30-minute Uwill sessions because they “fit better into [students’] busy schedules,” Lenzen explained.
“I’m excited about this change and hope it will better meet students’ needs,” she added.
According to Odigbo, DSG has worked closely with the Counseling Center since Uwill’s arrival on campus two years ago. DSG solicited student feedback at its weekly meetings, during its office hours and through the Student Issues Survey — an annual questionnaire sent to students to gather feedback on dining, residential life, safety, transportation, technology and wellness, Odigbo explained. According to Odigbo, “many” students criticized the constraints imposed by a 30-minute limit on Uwill sessions to DSG.
“If this is your first [teletherapy] session with someone, you come in, settle in, say hello, get to know each other and before you start discussing something, the 30 minutes is almost gone and then you’ll have to schedule another meeting,” he said.
DSG ultimately “relayed” student feedback about session lengths to the Counseling Center, Odigbo said. After hearing students’ concerns, the Counseling Center worked with DSG to ensure the new contract better met student needs, Odigbo said.
Alejandra Carrasco Alayo ’25 — who has experience using Uwill — said the previous session times were “short.” She said she believes longer teletherapy sessions may lead students to feel more “inclined” to use the service.
While she called the change an “improvement,” Carrasco Alayo added that she believes Uwill should be “more about quality than quantity.” During a Uwill session in her sophomore year, Carrasco Alayo said her teletherapist gave her “nonsense” advice to carry pepper spray — which is a prohibited item on campus — to fraternities.
“The quality of the counselors itself is just very poor,” Carrasco Alayo said. “They don’t understand what is happening [on campus]. … We need people who understand the context.”
Carrasco Alayo said she prefers an in-person therapist who will “get to know” her rather than a virtual therapist who will give her “vague” steps to address her problems.
The Counseling Center offers free in-person therapy sessions that vary in length and are determined by treatment goals, according to the counseling website. Counseling Center services are located at Dick’s House and are free for all full-time students.
