Volume 1, Issue 1: Post-Secondary Mental Health

Christina Gizzo (Author) • Adley Lobo (Photographer)
secondary institutions. Regardless, students
could greatly benefit from those
who are thoroughly trained to recognize
signs of mental illness.
“
Students could greatly
benefit from those who are
thoroughly trained to recognize
signs of mental illness.
CACUSS (the Canadian Association of
College and University Student Services)
identifies this in their publication,
“Post-Secondary Mental Health: Guide
to a Systemic Approach” (referred to as
“The Guide”). The Guide breaks down
a proposed framework into seven key
components of approaching and dealing
with mental health, one of which
is “Community Capacity to Respond to
Early Indications of Student Concern.”
This component alludes to professor
and instructor involvement. According
to the Guide, “Those who interact with
students in the course of their day on
campus are in the best position to notice
early indications of concern.”
“
Those who interact with
students in the course of their
day on campus are in the best
position to notice early indications
of concern.
Currently underway on campus, the
Health & Wellness Centre and Mental
Christina Gizzo (Author) • Adley Lobo (Photographer)
Health Network at UTSC are considering
training tools that will be most
effective for students, staff, and faculty
when it comes to learning how to support
students attending post-secondary
institution. They are looking into implementing
a training tool from morefeetontheground.ca
for faculty, staff, and
students to use as of the fall of 2015.
The objective of this training tool is to
help clarify the definitions of certain
mental health conditions, and help individuals
to recognize, respond, and refer
when needed.
On a similar note, CACUSS Post-Secondary
Mental Health Community of
Practice recently sent out a survey to
Student Services to gauge familiarity
and comprehension of The Guide. Preliminary
results of the survey were presented
at a CACUSS conference in May
with next steps underway, says Basma
Chamas, a fifth year student at UTSC
who sits on one of the CACUSS committees.
Likewise, Mary Nguyen, a fourth year
student at UTSC, claims that staff
and faculty training on mental health
would promote student mental health
and overall well-being. She says that
it would also send the message that
mental well-being should be prioritized,
especially since a student’s undergraduate
career and postgraduate aspirations
can be heavily influenced by staff and
faculty.
“
Staff and faculty training
on mental health would promote
student mental health
and overall well-being.
Of course, it’s not only about staff,
student, and faculty contributions. On a
large scale, we need the university itself
to incorporate student mental well-being
as a priority in its policies; CACUSS
has also identified a need for a systemswide
approach to creating a campus environment
that is conducive to mental
health and learning. Such an approach
would hold the University accountable,
campus wide, for enhancing and
maintaining the mental health of community
members. Further, using such
an approach would extend the focus of
mental health dissemination beyond the
individual (i.e., strategies such as treatment
and skill-building) to the whole
campus (i.e., considering environment,
organizational structure, policies, and
practices) [3].
The University of Toronto’s Institutional
Commitment emphasizes the importance
of adjustments to course design
and curriculum, but there still remain
some issues with the current standard:
“Professors can better accommodate
students with mental illness by evaluating
the limitations of their syllabus. In
terms of participation marks, for example,
it can be limiting to those who have
social anxiety or panic attacks to be put
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