Progress
UCalgary's Campus Mental Health Strategy (CMHS) was launched in December 2015. Now, with 28 strategic recommendations underway or complete, check out a sample of our progress. Below is a snapshot of updates up until 2021, at the time of our progress event.
Staff, faculty, and post-doctoral scholar support
We have trained over 2000 faculty and staff on mental health awareness and stigma reduction programs.
A mental health consultant role has been created for faculty, staff, and post-doctoral scholars. This role is the first of its kind in a Canadian post-secondary institution and bridges the gap between campus and community resources.
Student support
We reach over 8,000 students per year with outreach and training.
Student Wellness Services have increased counselling capacity and case management support over the last five years with its coordinated care model. This includes support for international students, Indigenous students, and for issues related to harm reduction and substance use.
Campus-wide event UFlourish
This yearly event supports all of our campus community. Participants during UFlourish build positive mental health, resiliency, and community connection through a series of online and in-person workshops, seminars, and events.
Awareness Campaign
Messaging continues to be distributed across campus aim to show our campus community they are not alone, that there is help available, and that they are resilient.
"When I became an advocate for myself, I became an advocate for others"
Shaziah Jinnah Morsette hit several rough patches during her undergrad degree, from the substantial drop in her grades during her second year, to receiving an ADHD diagnosis. After getting support from her therapist, learning more about and accepting her own neurodiversity, and exploring her passions, she became an advocate for others as well, serving as the 80th Vice President Academic with the Students’ Union.
Alongside community partners, UCalgary has launched a long-term system-wide transformation, working together to prevent all student suicides.
An SU Quality Money Grant will support the increase in training opportunities, through an expansion of workshop opportunities, including new courses such as SafeTalk and LivingWorks START
Suicide awareness and prevention trainings at UCalgary already include: Community Helpers, Responding to Students in Distress, QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer), and ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training).
These programs have certified 11,151 community members since 2015, growing participant numbers steadily year over year.
Launched in Fall 2019, we currently have 148 students enrolled in the certificate.
This UCalgary certificate has already won a University of Calgary Teaching Award for Curriculum Development.
Courses within the certificate teach students to develop coping and personal resiliency skills, understand mental health issues through an intersectional and multidisciplinary lens, and apply problem solving skills in communities.
Certificate in Mental Wellbeing and Resilience launched
Launched in the fall of 2019, the certificate is the first of its kind in Canada.
Over $100,000 in grants have been awarded to UCalgary projects that support mental health
Through collaboration with many partners, we have contributed to evidence and perspectives that strengthen our collective capacities in supporting mental health.
With campus collaborators, we have reviewed over 12 institutional policies through a mental health lens.
