Poster Presentations

Studies have shown that identity impacts likelihood to seek treatment related to mental health concerns, such that individuals who identify as white are up to 40% more likely to access mental health services compared to racialized students. Importantly, access to care and the time it takes to receive support has important consequences on mental health outcomes. As such, we investigated barriers to accessing care for undergraduate students. One important finding from this qualitative study was that students noted feeling overwhelmed when trying to determine which service could adequately meet their specific needs, and that they did know of services that were specific to their identity. As such, the findings from this study were used to inform the development of an application that facilitates student access to mental health services, which serves their expressed needs and matches their unique identity. We hope to share the importance of having a tailored approach to accessing mental health services that considers the principles of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, using our app as a demonstrative tool.

Recently, 2SLGBTQ+ student intersectionality has gained visibility in social science research yet remains largely ignored within 2SLGBTQ+ service provision. A gap exists on how to best support the inclusion of racialized and Indigenous 2SLGBTQ+ post-secondary students. Drawing on data from the Ontario-wide Thriving On Campus study, a mixed-methods 2SLGBTQ+ campus climate study, this poster will provide an understanding of varying intersectional experiences that marginalize racialized and Indigenous 2SLGBTQ+ students. It will include a brief overview of existing research on sexually- and gender-diverse racialized and Indigenous students in addition to the findings from the Thriving On Campus study highlighting BIPOC students’ exclusion as well as inclusion related to their intersectional identities. This poster will review how to promote socially/culturally responsive practice with diverse 2SLGBTQ+ students, with a focus placed on affirming diverse 2SLGBTQ+ students’ intersecting identities, participant critical self-reflexivity, and decolonization of gender and sexuality.

This poster will share details about the Campus Assessment Tool is a post-secondary student mental health research project co-led by staff members at Jack.org, interRAI, and student leaders at Jack Chapters embedded within post-secondary institutions across Canada. The goal of the project is to gather data that enables students to engage in collaborative service evaluation and quality improvement activities with campus decision-makers. As part of this project, a pilot study of the new CAT: Student Survey (CAT:SS) was conducted at five sites.

The results of the survey suggest that mental health needs are the largest driver of service use, though there is still a subgroup of students whose needs are not being met. Types of mental health needs, as well as beliefs about help-seeking and the health system, may help to explain why some students do not access on-campus services. Another implementation of the survey is planned for post-secondary schools in March 2023. By gathering extensive information on existing campus mental health services and resources, as well as student perspectives on available services, the CAT provides student leaders with evidence-based data to support their advocacy and collaboration with campus decision-makers.

The National Standard of Canada for Mental Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students – the first of its kind in the world – is an evidence-informed set of flexible, voluntary guidelines for post-secondary institutions to support the mental health and well-being of their students. Since its release three years ago, change makers in the post-secondary education sector have looked to the Standard for guidance to evaluate and implement policies, programs, and services; assess their gaps and opportunities; and take collective action to reinforce their commitment to campus mental health and well-being.

Designed to be adaptable to the unique needs and circumstances of each institution, regardless of size or student demographic, institutions have implemented the Standard in various ways, aligned with their own unique priorities for improving student mental health and well-being. Many institutions are also using the Campus Mental Health Action Tracker, a complimentary, go-to tool for Standard implementation, to collaboratively document and track their progress with the Standard over time to support and inform their implementation efforts.

The Wellness Hub on Wilfrid Laurier University’s Brantford campus is a space for students to connect together and support their well-being. This poster will review the development of the Wellness Hub, how the space is used, and the wellness programming. The Wellness Hub is a warm and inviting space featuring massage chairs, seating for students, a chalk wall, and a sensory room. It is also a community connections space, where community organizations can promote their services to students. The wellness hub is co-created with students; it is an open space that students can make it what they would like. They can express themselves on the chalk wall, tell us about themselves by putting a pin on a map showing their home, or relax using the massage chairs. The Wellness Hub also features regular wellness programming such as the Brantford Breakfast Bar which provided free breakfast two days per week.

This poster will share how many college/university students are starting their post secondary education journey with lived experiences of trauma. 76% of Canadian adults report some form of trauma exposure in their lifetime (Government of Nova Scotia, 2015) and 50% of college students identified being exposed to a potentially traumatizing event in their first year of college (Galatzer-Levy et al., 2012). Given the prevalent nature of trauma, post-secondary organizations, can aid in the reduction of harm, re-traumatization, and vicarious trauma. Education plays a role in social change, destigmatizing trauma and mental health and challenging the systems that create trauma in the first place, including educational institutions. This workshop is supported by evidence-based research that has culminated in the development of “Cultivating Trauma-Informed Spaces in Education Promising Practices Manual”, which is a framework for post-secondary education. It is time for a paradigm shift – seeing the role everyone plays in addressing mental health and trauma.

This poster will advance knowledge on curricular frameworks and approaches that centre learners’ lived experience. The poster will share how the Student Wellness and Equitable Learning team at Humber College interrogated, disrupted and evolved traditional curricular frameworks through anti-colonial and participatory praxis to promote learners as active participants in their personal, academic, professional and spiritual wellbeing. The process adopted an anti-colonial and collective approach to develop a curriculum model that drew from both institutional documents, national standards and learner lived experience to identify mindset, skills, and learning outcomes for the framework.

First responders face elevated rates of suicide, substance use, and negative mental health outcomes. Supporting first responder students and enhancing career readiness requires modifying mental health norms and organizational cultures, while also equipping individuals with knowledge and tools to support their own mental health and resilience. To accomplish this, an interdisciplinary team developed a First Responder Mental Health Curriculum (FRMHC).

This poster presentation will describe collaborative process of developing and implementing the FRMHC, emphasizing how the project fosters systemic change in mental health education and support.

The FRMHC was grounded in the principles of EDI and designed to align with various course and program learning outcomes. The FRMHC is currently being implemented in post-secondary programs. The FRMHC demonstrates a collaborative, systemic approach to addressing mental health challenges through an evidence-informed curriculum. The project serves as a model for embedding and building capacity for mental health and well-being in post-secondary education.

The purpose of this ongoing project is to encourage graduate student mental health and wellness by creating a resource that will empower, connect, and build capacity to cope. Our goal is to provide a preventative and accessible resource through which students can learn, practice, and share resilience-based skills in a safe and supportive environment.?We acknowledge that resilience looks and feels different for everybody; it is fluid, multi-faceted, and involves elements of self-care, self-awareness, help-seeking, and social connectedness. This is why we have work with graduate students every step of the way to understand their needs and what resilience means to them. This ensures that the resulting resources are relevant, accessible, and meaningful to students. This poster will highlight the co-creation method we have used throughout the research and development process, including strategies for facilitating thoughtful discussion and maintaining active student involvement.

The poster will introduce a support tool for post-secondary institutions engaging with the National Standard of Canada for Mental-Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students (“The Standard”), called the Campus Mental Health Action Tracker (“The Tracker”). The Tracker is a free, bilingual, online self-assessment tool designed to support the implementation of the Standard as a sector-wide systems change initiative. As an implementation support tool, the Tracker can contribute to an in-depth understanding of what is happening within an institution and the sector. The aim of our poster will be to share with participants about how the Tracker can support both organizational change and wider systems change, and to showcase how features of the Tracker have been designed to respond to the needs of institutions across Canada on their journey in supporting student mental health and well-being.

The PSSI is a 46-item instrument designed ‘for-students, by-students’ to evaluate sources of student stress by both severity and frequency of occurrence. During the 2020/2021 academic year, we launched the PSSI across 15 universities in Canada to evaluate sources and patterns in student stress across the country during that first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2023, we will launch the second iteration of this study, allowing us to assess changes in student stress in the post-pandemic period, compared to those experienced during the first complete academic year following the start of the pandemic. To date, we have 16 post-secondary institutions signed on for this study. Results from this study will provide a broad overall picture of the patterns in student stressors in different regions of Canada and will inform post-secondary institutions’ delivery of mental health supports to students in the post-pandemic period and beyond.

Chronic stress and symptoms of psychological distress continue to be prevalent among Canadian post-secondary students. In recent years, facilitating access to innovative and effective mental health promotion has become increasingly important. Canada’s Student Mental Health Network is a one-stop-shop for mental health education and evidence-based resources, with content carefully tailored using a participatory “for-students, by-students” approach. The Network targets three main outcomes: improved mental health education, building social support networks, and improving awareness of available supports. Supported by a network of over 40+ volunteer students attending schools across the country, our goal is to empower students to maintain their mental health and wellbeing by providing mental health promotion in a centralized location. Through this discussion, we hope to share perspectives on the utility and impact of the Network from both student contributors, as well as mental health researchers and clinicians working in the post-secondary setting.

This poster will share lived experience and research evidence on the impact of walking, peer support groups, and greenspace on social inclusion and mental health equity. The poster will share the author’s experience designing Building Roads Together, an intergenerational, trauma-informed peer-led walking/rolling program implemented in public urban greenspace, based on her lived experience (of social exclusion, and trauma and recovery); research evidence of the benefits of peer support groups, walking, and greenspace on mental health; and a community needs assessment in partnership with the Centre of Learning & Development in Regent Park, Toronto.

In 2018 the Center for Public Policy and Health (CPPH) at Kent State University (Ohio, United States) created the idea of U Good events for students. The objective of these peer-created and peer-led events is to engage, educate, and encourage students to adopt healthful skills and behaviors that improve mental wellness. U Goods take many formats (in-person, online, activities focused, presentation focused) and vary in time (5-60) minutes. CPPH students have created 22 unique U Good events. Our poster will highlight our most popular U Good events, such as Aromatherapy Dough where students create playdough infused with essential oils to use when wanting to relax, decompress, and reflect, and Scare Away Stigma where students learn about stigmatizing Halloween costumes and mental health stigma depicted in horror films. Participants will also learn where to access free U Good guides which contain information to host a U Good event on their campus.

Learning to Bounce (LTB) is an academic resilience program for students whose mental health interferes with school. This practical group program, initially created by two occupational therapists and then shaped by student participants, has grown into a community of support that extends beyond the formal groups. The program, grounded in current research, was studied for its impact on student wellbeing and academic functioning, with exciting results.

LTB shifts emphasis from individual pathology and brokenness to one of common humanity; embracing imperfection as part of the human condition. We challenge the culture of perfectionism, normalize the emotional demands of academics and introduce skills to cope. Separating self-worth from performance has freed participants to focus on learning, making it less scary to start, thus reducing procrastination and shame.

This poster highlights some of the powerful outcomes from the Learning to Bounce program in 2022/23. The full research report can be accessed here. Please feel welcome to reach out to ltb@uoguelph.ca with questions or collaboration requests.”