Mental Health Strategies

The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC), in collaboration with CSA Group (a global leader in standards development), has championed the development of the National Standard of Canada for Mental Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students.  This voluntary Standard is the first of its kind in the world; it builds on the exceptional work of Canada’s post-secondary institutions and seeks to inspire further actions through principle-led approaches.  The MHCC has also designed a Starter Kit to support post-secondary institutions as they begin aligning with the Standard, as well as a Self-Assessment Tool so they can understand their strengths, gaps and opportunities for action.

The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC), in collaboration with CSA Group (a global leader in standards development), has championed the development of the National Standard of Canada for Mental Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students.  This voluntary Standard is the first of its kind in the world; it builds on the exceptional work of Canada’s post-secondary institutions and seeks to inspire further actions through principle-led approaches.  The MHCC has also designed a Starter Kit to support post-secondary institutions as they begin aligning with the Standard, as well as a Self-Assessment Tool so they can understand their strengths, gaps and opportunities for action.

Following the 2017 release of the Orygen report, Under the radar: the mental health of Australian university students, funding to develop an Australian University Mental Health Framework (the framework) was provided through a grant from the Australian Government Department of Health. The framework was developed through extensive consultation with students, and university and mental health sector stakeholders.  The framework provides guidance for mentally healthy university settings that support student mental health and wellbeing in collaboration with the mental health sector. The framework is structured around six principles that support student mental health and wellbeing and may inspire discussion, promote new thinking and interventions, and facilitate evaluation and learning.

In collaboration with CSA Group (a global leader in standards development), the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC), has championed the development of the CSA Z2003:20 Mental Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students Standard.

This toolkit aims to understand post-secondary student mental health priority areas within Alberta and identify exemplary mental health and wellness initiatives at Alberta PSIs. The 11 case studies presented in the toolkit are meant to assist Alberta PSIs in the planning and implementation of effective mental health initiatives at their institutions. 

With 2 million students in post-secondary institutions in Canada, mental health is a growing and pressing societal problem. The Mental Health Commission of Canada wants to help post-secondary institutions support and promote mental health and wellbeing for students. In this webinar, you will learn about supporting mental health for post-secondary students, the Inquiring Mind Post-Secondary mental health training program, and an introduction to NEADS will be provided.

The Best Practices Network conducted an environmental scan of existing post-secondary mental health strategies across Canada, from 2009 to 2019, and identified common and differing themes with respect to their development process, organizational structure, strategy components, key recommendations, and evaluation. 

Use these tools to plan and host your dialogue and to submit your input to the CSA Group technical committee.

The University of Alberta (U of A) Suicide Prevention Framework outlines a five-part framework for enhancing suicide prevention. Specifically, the report identifies 36 recommendations across the five categories to build upon student, staff, and faculty mental health and wellness services and to improve the capacity and capability for suicide prevention at the U of A.

Healthy Campuses Alberta created a webinar to assist post-secondary institutions with developing campus mental health strategies. The webinar includes the perspectives of expert community members on their own experiences of developing mental health strategies. This webinar was first recorded in May of 2018.

OCAD University and Ryerson University have embarked on a creative partnership together, collaborating around the development of best practices in campus mental health strategy. OCAD U is using design thinking as a participatory process to gather input and to understand students’ experiences with mental health on campus in order to inform the mental health strategy. OCAD U is also using art as a community engagement tool to raise awareness about mental health and to reduce stigma on campus.