The University of Waterloo (U of W) is expanding their mental health funding after students rallied for more support following a recent student death.
The President’s Advisory Committee on Student Mental Health (PAC-SMH) released a report in which they issued 36 recommendations pertaining to mental health that the school is being encouraged to implement.
This committee was formed a year ago at the request of university president Feridun Hamdullahpur, who sought to make mental health a priority on campus, Matthew Grant, director of media relations at the university, said over email.
PAC-SMH works to extensively review student mental health on campus as well as in the community by examining the root causes of student stress, anxiety and depression, according to the U of W website.
Grant said that all 36 recommendations from PAC-SMH are being considered, but two are being immediately acted upon. The first one is allocating $1.2 million to hire more mental health professionals including physicians, psychiatrists, counsellors, psychologists and nurses. The second includes the formation of an implementation team to prioritize and address the remaining recommendations.
John Hirdes, a professor of health studies and gerontology at the U of W, who has an extensive research background in the area of youth mental health, is the chair of the implementation committee.
Hirdes said the implementation team will develop “training programs, tangible practical solutions to implement right away to provide additional training to faculty and staff about how to recognize and respond to mental health symptoms.”
The committee will seek to increase awareness around mental health and why it is important. Currently, the school has 31,380 undergraduate students and 5,290 graduate students. There are 22 full-time counselling services staff and two full-time equivalent psychiatrists. This creates a ratio of approximately one staff person for every 1,554 students, according to an article written by the CBC.
On March 8, about 200 students staged a walkout event at the U of W campus, demanding more sufficient mental health resources on campus after a fourth-year student died by suicide. According to an article by the Record, there have been 10 student deaths by suicide at the university since 2012.
Fourth-year student Sarah Welton was one of the “Waterloo Walkout” organizers, and told the CBC she was “really happy” to see that the recommendations in the PAC-SMH report were being considered and acted upon. However, Welton said she has some concerns.
“After a year of sitting on this and hyping up this report, I’m disappointed to see that there’s not a lot of actionable specifics, a real plan of action, or any associate timelines on the things they do mention”, she said in a CBC interview.
According to Grant, the report and all 36 recommendations are the result of nearly one year of work. Hamdullahpur told the CBC that past student deaths at the U of W are only one of the reasons why the advisory committee was put together.
“ . . . it wasn’t just triggered by those incidents. It had been an ongoing review,” he said.
According to Hirdes, the U of W’s decision to expand mental health services preceded the walkout by several weeks, and was not driven by the protest at all. But, Hirdes said he does believe the walkout served as a strong student voice, saying, “I think the walkout was part of a dialogue that was important. It was important for students to express their views and their commitment to doing something about it.”
“It is important to seek out help, draw from the assistance of people, your friends and family and let others know that you need help, and take advantage of the services that are available on campus and off campus,” he added. θ
