Making student mental health a priority

A new initiative that embeds counsellors within specific faculties is increasing students’ access to mental health professionals at the University of Toronto.

“Many of the students I see report feeling more responsible for their own choices, improved emotional well-being and greater physical and mental health,” said Laurie Coleman, a counsellor and wellness coordinator with Health and Wellness, a unit of Student Life Programs and Services at U of T.

“While I could discuss students’ improved grades, greater clarity of purpose and improved life skills, what’s more important is that many of these success stories may not have happened if the services were not embedded in the faculties,” Coleman said. “Traditional services work for some students but many attest they would never have begun the process of seeking help if it had not been so readily available.”

Launched last fall, the embedded counselling pilot project is just one of a number of recent initiatives aimed at supporting student mental health and mitigating the impact of stigma associated with mental illness, said Janine Robb, Executive Director of Health and Wellness at the downtown campus.

“Counselling services have been available for students through on-campus services for many years, but this new initiative brings those services out of the clinicians’ offices and into the community,” said Robb. “We wanted to increase access for students who may otherwise not seek out the professional help they need and, by placing the counsellor outside of the clinical setting, to help de-stigmatize the act of asking for help. “

Student feedback has indicated that having the counsellor so accessible influenced their decision to seek help.

“The fact the drop-in counselling services were a part of the faculty made it easier for me to seek help,” said a second-year nursing student. “Coping skills, especially meditation, was the one thing that I took away from the counselling that I am applying in my life now.”

Along with embedded counselling, Health and Wellness launched a new series of skills-building workshops in the fall 2011. The workshops are designed to provide students who seek help at one of the services—but present with issues that could be effectively addressed through a psycho-education program—with tools to better cope with stress.

In addition to learning coping skills, one fourth-year political science student  said “one thing I took away from the workshop is that a lot people suffer from the mind, no matter what your background, and I stopped being so hard on myself and stopped being so afraid of the disease itself.”

Still, many students will not access the professional help they need without support, said Robb.

“Health and Wellness has also focused on educating student leaders and mentors on how to identify, assist and refer a student in distress,” Robb said. “Mentorship programs help to facilitate the transition from high school to the first year of university, and mentors are very often able to notice changes in a student that could indicate that they’re struggling.”

As trusting relationships take form, students may also confide in upper-year mentors about the difficulties they're experiencing. In the last year, more than 350 student mentors, residence dons and student leaders have attended a workshop designed to provide them with the knowledge and skill to assist a student in distress to get the help they need.