Virginia Beach City Public Schools is offering free, unlimited teletherapy to all students in grades six through 12, a new effort to expand mental-health support across a district with one of the largest student populations in Virginia.
The division is partnering with Uwill, a national teletherapy provider, to give roughly 35,000 students access to virtual counseling after school, at night, on weekends and during school breaks.
Robert Jamison, executive director of student support service at VBCPS, said the service is designed to reach students who may not feel comfortable walking into a counselor’s office or who need help when school-based staff aren’t available.
“We hope to have mental-health services be even more accessible than they currently are,” Jamison said. “So the goal, again, is to make it more accessible and to help fill in any gap, or at least one, a gap that does exist when it comes to access to services.”
The initiative is funded through a $250,000 state grant administered by the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.
How the service works
Students can schedule same-day or recurring sessions and choose from therapists who match their needs, including counselors experienced with military families, fluent in languages other than English or familiar with specific clinical concerns such as anxiety or trauma.
“This is truly unlimited,” said Michael London, founder and CEO of Uwill. “They can meet as much as they want, call as much as they want.”
In crisis situations, students can connect with a licensed trauma-trained clinician within 30 seconds, London said.
Uwill employs therapists directly rather than contracting through third-party networks, which London said helps the company maintain a stable pool of more than 100 Virginia-licensed providers.
Part of Virginia’s statewide mental-health push
The districtwide program is an extension of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Right Help, Right Now initiative, which aims to make behavioral health support available to Virginians before, during and after a crisis.
Virginia ranks 48th in the nation for youth access to mental-health care, according to national data. Nearly 40% of high school students statewide report persistent sadness or hopelessness, and school mental-health staff across Virginia say they are seeing sharp increases in anxiety and depression among teens.
At Old Dominion University, students are increasingly relying on AI chatbots for emotional support.ODU’s Counseling Director Joy Himmel cautioned that the tools come with serious concerns, ranging from uncertain data-collection practices to advice generated through broad information mining rather than human judgment.
“The bots have the knowledge, but they don't have the understanding piece,” Himmel said. “They don't have the human connection piece, which is really needed.”
London said teletherapy is increasingly preferred by teens, who often find it easier to schedule and more comfortable than in-person sessions, especially after the pandemic.
“Students today really prefer teletherapy,” he said. “It complements the work schools already do.”
Jamison said in-person counseling remains critical for younger children, but teletherapy can be especially effective for older students seeking privacy and flexibility.
“There is no one program that’s going to meet the needs of 63,000 students,” Jamison said. “It’s a layering of supports that makes the system work better.”
Virginia Beach Public Schools is a member of the Hampton Roads Educational Telecommunications Association, which holds WHRO's license.
