New grant supports college's mental health efforts
On Wednesday, Jan. 31, Canadians will take to social media to show their support for mental health as part of Bell Let’s Talk Day.
The campaign is aimed at driving a national conversation about mental health.
At Lethbridge College, that conversation is well underway and its reach to support students and student success is growing thanks to a $365,000 grant from the Government of Alberta’s ministry of Advanced Education.
Shelley Carter-Rose, director of Student Services, says Lethbridge College was well positioned when the new grants to all Alberta post-secondary institutions were announced last year. The college had already created its Student Health and Wellness Plan, with input from numerous sources, such as the National College Health Assessment, collected in February 2016 and the Health and Wellness Student Support Survey, completed in 2015.
“We had the data and we had the plan,” Carter-Rose says. “We had a very solid foundation, and the grant will complement what we’d already started.”
The impact of the grant is already being felt. Terra-Lynn Zosiuk, manager of Health Services, points to THRIVE: Celebrating Community Wellness, a week-long focus on self-care, as one recent activity that was supported in part by the grant. From Jan. 22 to 26, students and staff were treated to a range of opportunities, including cooking classes, seminars on sleep, resiliency and relaxation.
Next month’s Long Night against Procrastination is another initiative in support of mental health and wellness. From 4 to 11 p.m. on Feb. 13, students are invited to the Learning Café and Buchanan Library for help developing strategies to deal with heavy workloads and stress. The night will include reading scholarly journal articles, free massage therapy sessions, stretch breaks and conversation with Indigenous elders.
The grant, which ends in March 2019, will help support institution-wide initiatives for students, with an eye to creating sustainable efforts that will outlive the grant.
Harmoni Jones, health promotion coordinator, says the college’s participation in the national survey was key to identifying initiatives that directly relate to students’ needs. The survey found 39.3 per cent of Lethbridge college students said stress negatively affected their academic performance. Anxiety and sleep difficulties were next on the list of factors. Provincially, 78.6 per cent of surveyed students said they would consider seeking professional help from a mental health expert if they experienced a serious personal problem, nearly four per cent more than in the 2013 survey.
In formulating the college’s student health and wellness plan, stakeholders from across the college identified key recommendations. Through the post-secondary mental health grant, the college was able to hire Allen Ledyit to research and develop initiatives reflecting the plan’s recommendations.
The work is well under way to address mental health and wellness on campus and beyond. The grant has helped to enhance this work.
Show your support to Bell Let’s Talk
You can help by participating in activities, like Bell Let’s Talk Day.
On Jan. 31, Bell will donate five cents toward mental health initiatives for:
- Every text message, mobile call and long distance call made by Bell Canada and Bell Aliant customers
- Every tweet using #BellLetsTalk
- Every view of the Bell Let's Talk Day video on facebook.com/BellLetsTalk
- Every Instagram post using #BellLetsTalk
- Every use of the Bell Let's Talk geofilter on Snapchat
Since the first Bell Let’s Talk event, Bell has donated about $86.5 million to mental health programs.
Here are five simple ways we can help end the stigma on our campus and community:
- Language matters – pay attention to the words you use about mental illness
- Educate yourself – learn, know and talk more, understand the signs
- Be kind – small acts of kindness speak a lot
- Listen and ask – sometimes it's best to just listen
- Talk about it – start a dialogue, break the silence
You can also access the Shepell Employee Assistance Program at www.workhealthlife.com or the Shepell Student Support program at mystudentsupport.com.