Universities and colleges release new report on campus mental health

A unique partnership of Ontario’s universities, colleges and student advocacy groups has released a joint report calling on the provincial government to support better access to mental-health services on campuses and beyond.

In It Together 2020: Foundations for Promoting Mental Wellness in Campus Communities lays out principles for addressing and responding to postsecondary mental-health concerns, including ensuring consistent access to community- and campus-based mental-health services, and promoting lifelong mental health and well-being.

“Universities and colleges are standing with students to advocate for improved access to mental-health resources on our campus and in our communities,” says Sean Van Koughnett, McMaster’s associate vice-president, students and learning, and dean of students.

“This report emphasizes society’s shared responsibility to make consistent, effective mental-health support a reality for our communities.”

At McMaster, students have access to counselling and other mental-health services through the Student Wellness Centre and a variety of community supports – but, as the report points out, challenges remain across the sector, with potentially long wait times to access services both on campuses and within communities.

“Our institutions have made student mental health a priority, but we cannot meet this challenge alone,” says the report on the Council of Ontario Universities website. “It is a shared responsibility that requires collective action through a ‘whole-of-community’ approach.”

The report is a joint publication of the Council of Ontario Universities (of which McMaster is a member), Colleges Ontario, the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance and the College Student Alliance, which had formerly come together to create the first iteration of In It Together in 2017.