In this section of the website, you will learn the importance of each call.
You may be the first person to notice a student who is experiencing difficulty. If you choose, you may have a direct conversation with the student to gather more information, express your concern, offer support, and guide them toward resource referral information. You should not take on the role of counsellor or diagnose a student; it is important, however, to be aware of on-campus and local resources so that you are able to provide useful information to assist the student.
The phrase “mental health conditions” encompasses more than a psychiatric or psychological diagnosis. Mental health and mental illness exist on different spectrums, and are not mutually exclusive: you can have a diagnosed mental illness and be mentally healthy with all the supports and resilience a person could need, and you could have no diagnosed mental illness and yet still struggle with your emotional well-being. For some people with no diagnosed mental illness, having poor mental health can come with similar levels of emotional distress as those experienced by somebody going through a major depressive episode. . Having poor mental health can be associated with emotional distress and psycho-social impairment comparable to that of a major depressive episode. The effects of poor mental health are both severe and prevalent, with poor mental health being even more common than depression.