As October passes, so does annual Mental Health Awareness Month and along with that, the various Pop the Stigma events hosted by Carleton University’s Student Association (CUSA), aimed at increasing education and minimizing stigma against mental illness and disability.
Despite Carleton recently being voted as one of the top Canadian schools by Maclean’s Magazine, a ranking which included the quality of mental health services, it is important to acknowledge there are still steps that need to be taken to improve them.
October and Pop the Stigma should not be the only times throughout the year that Carleton makes efforts to promote mental health services.
Although these are good starting points with helping those in the Carleton community who are suffering with mental health issues, awareness efforts need to be present all-year round.
Mental illness does not take a break. The school’s efforts to help those experiencing mental health issues should not either.
Carleton does offer various year-round mental health resources including online and in-person counselling.
However, many students aren’t aware of these services that are available to them, and Carleton can do a better job encouraging students to use them.
I was not aware of these resources until I did my own research and looked through the health section of the Carleton website.
Perhaps instead of focusing on ending stigma every year, it would be better to focus on bettering and promoting the services which Carleton offers.
Many individuals struggling with mental health issues are not going to search around campus looking for resources to help them. If more efforts were made through student-led groups such as CUSA to inform the student body of the things available to them, lives could be changed.
Most Carleton students have experienced one of those Peer-Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) presentations given at lectures throughout the year. Has anyone seen a presentation surrounding mental health services?
Although the primary concern of university institutions is to cultivate an academically successful class of students, many are not able to reach their full potential because of the various mental health issues they could be dealing with.
If Carleton facilitated presentations in each class at the beginning of the year to create awareness of the various mental health services, like the PASS presentations, imagine the number of students who could benefit.
Along with counselling, Carleton should consider starting peer support groups for students with mental health issues.
Being able to connect with people in your community and provide tips and tricks to handling university pressures and stress, along with personal trials and tribulations, would be extremely beneficial to many Carleton students.
Currently, Carleton offers mental health drop-in peer support for graduate students. However, no such services are available for undergraduate students.
Carleton’s efforts to promote mental health awareness and support around campus have been fruitful, but they are not enough, and several steps still need to be taken to ensure that all Carleton students have mental health support during their university education.
File photo.
