Jodie Vanderslot | Staff Writer
Featured image: Jack.org hosted a summit for university students to discuss how to provide better mental health services on their campus. | Cedric Wong
Whether it be about the complications that arise from mental illnesses or the lack of treatment offered on university campuses, we need to talk about mental health.
You can usually see the implications of a physical ailment, however when it’s our mental health that is suffering, it’s harder to see and much more difficult to explain.
In September, 66.8 per cent of York students reported to have felt overwhelming anxiety within the previous 12 months. Nearly 49 per cent of students had felt depressed to the point that it was difficult to function regularly and nearly 12 per cent seriously considered suicide.
Earlier this month, Jack.org held their annual summit in Toronto, which saw 200 post-secondary students attend and discuss what mental health means on their campuses. The organization developed in 2010 as a movement when Jack
Windeler, a first-year student at Queen’s University, committed suicide due to mental illness. Their vision is “No More Silence” about mental health.
The summit discussed the importance of access to mental health services on campuses and how there is often a lack of communication, resources and programs available for individuals in need. Many campus services are overwhelmed with students and are not properly equipped to deal with a large capacity or long-term treatment options.
“It’s evident that universities are overwhelmed. There’s a huge increase in students wanting and needing to access mental health services,” said Fred Wagner of the Canadian Mental Health Association.
Jack.org is about creating dialogue and networking; by ensuring that young people are better able to care for themselves, they are further encouraged to support their peers.
“When it comes to the more serious, long-term mental health conditions, the community and the university really have to come together to support that student,” said Wagner.
The aim is to empower students to get involved with their campus resources health advisory committees to ensure that help is available to all students who need it and that students know how to access these resources, as well as establishing dialogue around universities’ academic policies and how they affect mental health.
Students can play a significant role in how universities approach and handle mental health. Mental health problems exist beyond Bell Let’s Talk Day, and these illnesses aren’t present exclusively during exam periods.
Maintaining one’s mental health is a continuous process, which is why Jack.org has created contact-based education and peer-to-peer outreach programs that are designed to teach students that we all have mental health, we all need to care for it and, most importantly, we need to talk about it.
