Creating a supportive community around mental health
Addresses objectives: C1B Nurture relationships and create a community of learners
Mental health wellness is another priority area for action. Faculty and staff are often the first point of contact for students who are struggling with mental health. This makes it critical for Waterloo employees be able to recognize a student in distress, respond with compassion, and refer them to the appropriate services. As a corollary, it also means that employees have supports to foster their own self-care.
Campus Wellness (CW), Organizational and Human Development (OHD) and Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE) partnered to develop the Mental Health Literacy Program in 2020-2021 to create a supportive community to encourage discussions and reflections on mental health among employees. The program was piloted in spring 2021, evaluated, and changes integrated to launch the program in fall 2021. Results of the six-month follow-up survey indicate that after taking the program, 92 per cent of pilot participants felt they can recognize someone in distress and 100 per cent of pilot participants felt confident in supporting someone facing mental health concerns or in mental distress. Program components were also embedded into CTE’s tutorial assistants’ training program and the Student Success Office’s (SSO) Student Leadership training program.
Jump to: SC Goal C1 | Strengthening Communities Goals
Moving Forward: The Mental Health Literacy Program will continue to be implemented in 2022 in an employee cohort model. The collaborative will continue to seek opportunities to embed program content into other areas of student programming and explore incentive strategies to increase program uptake among employees.