The Ontario University and College Health Association (OUCHA) published their results from a survey of students this past spring, which found 65 per cent of Ontario students felt overwhelming anxiety in the previous year. The survey, titled the National College Health Assessment (NCHA), was sent to students at 41 schools across Canada.
CBC reported that Meg Houghton, president of OUCHA, said the amount of students seeking mental health services on campuses in Ontario has become a “major crisis.”
“Many of us who oversee counselling services describe our day as using a finger to stop a flood and the demand for our services far outstrips our capacity to support students,” she told CBC.
Carleton University mental health nurse Patty Allen said she hopes the survey findings will bring extra government funding to campus mental health resources. Allen said the survey’s purpose was to make the government aware university health care providers need provincial financial assistance.
After being initially assessed for crisis, Allen said a student seeking services can expect a wait of two to four weeks before they will see a mental health specialist.
“We’re trying to look after it as best we can but we need some help, we need some support,” she said.
Allen said Carleton’s mental health department currently receives no government or university funding, and mental health services are completely covered by a student health fee.
She said the department is not actually mandated to provide mental health services, but the alternative would be to put potential clients back into an already overburdened public system. Stress, she said, is the biggest issue affecting Carleton students.
Jennifer Hamilton, executive director of the Canadian Association of College and University Student Services (CACUSS), said the survey could help improve mental health services at Ontario universities.
“The data has potential to be used at a provincial level. It is useful [to mental health departments] for making their case,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton said CACUSS is advocating for additional funding from the government for campus mental health services.
Noshin Rahman, a first-year Carleton sociology student, said stress is her biggest problem. The sources of her stress are assignments, class readings, and midterms.
“When I do get free time, I don’t know what to do with it. I don’t know how to relax anymore,” she said.
Manal Rahim, a third-year accounting student, said she will be quitting her job next week due to an overload of schoolwork.
“I didn’t sleep last night because I had two assignments due,” Rahim said.
Allen said missing out on sleep is not something she would recommend. Until mental health services receive more funding, she said the mental health department will cope with the situation and provide services to Carleton students.
