To build an outpatient mental health program for college students, Wright State University (WSU) partnered with Kettering Health, University of Dayton, Sinclair University, Premier Health and other surrounding hospitals.
The College Age Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) was started on Oct. 20, 2025, with the goal of expanding mental health resources for undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and 25.
There are other IOPs offered through Kettering Health, including the Adult IOP and the “After the Call” First Responders IOP. The College Age IOP was designed with the collaboration from universities to specifically help college students who are struggling.
WSU President Sue Edwards released a statement, speaking on the goals of partnering with this new program.
“The College Age [IOP] represents the power of collaboration among higher education and health care partners to meet a critical need. By connecting students to specialized, high-quality care, we can help them manage their mental well-being so they can stay engaged, succeed academically and reach their full potential,” Edwards said.
The purpose of the IOP is to offer services beyond what WSU’s Counseling and Wellness Services currently offers. This includes personalized treatment plans for each patient and access to a clinician and nurse practitioner for medication.
Julie Manuel, the Manager of Clinical Program and Adult IOP at Kettering Health, talked about what exactly an IOP is and what treatment is offered.
“An IOP is a level of care that is nine hours a week. Usually, three hours on three different days that [students] commit to attend group programming, as well as individual and family therapy,” Manuel said.
There is also a graduation ceremony when patients finish the program to give them a sense of accomplishment and celebrate the progress they made.
By forming partnerships with surrounding schools and hospitals, WSU was able to access more resources than what the university could previously offer.
Barb Marsh, the Director of Counseling and Wellness at WSU, spoke about the benefits of having these connections with other universities and hospitals in the area.
“Our services here on campus are not able to provide intensive services. So, when someone needs more than what we can provide here, that’s when the IOP has been really helpful for our students,” Marsh said.
The program was designed to give students extra help when needed without taking away from their education. Students can still attend classes while going through the program.
WSU has already seen students benefit from this program and it has picked up quicker than initially anticipated.
“We launched on Oct. 20, and we started with two individuals. Within two weeks, we were at nine individuals. I think it speaks to the level of collaboration between all the organizations, and we were all excited and we saw the need," Manuel said.
The College Age IOP is available at Kettering Health Behavioral Medical Center and students can access it through self-referral or university referral. Premier Health hopes to begin offering the same program within the year.
"[The IOP] is filling a gap that we've not been able to fill here on campus for our mental health services," Marsh said. "We have that seamless transition between our team and Julie's team to be able to transition someone from our services directly into intensive outpatient services as needed, and then they can transition back to WSU services, if needed."
Students who are interested in accessing the College Age IOP can send referrals to bhadultiop@ketteringhealth.org or christina.eigel@ketteringhealth.org. For more information, visit the Kettering Health website.
