Studies raise concerns about mental health of post secondary students

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There’s a grim picture being painted in recent studies on the mental health of college and university students. They find many post-secondary students are stressed out — anxious and some have suicidal thoughts. Today, McMaster university in Hamilton launched a unique, new strategy to combat the issue.

One study done in 2013 found almost 90 percent of students felt overwhelmed, half felt hopeless and more than 60 percent were lonely. Shockingly almost ten percent of students surveyed said they had seriously considered suicide in the last year.

Dr. Catharine Munn is the lead psychiatrist at the student wellnes centre, and says there are a lot of factors contributing to a province wide campus crisis. “We don’t have grade 13 anymore so students are coming to university younger, we know the pressures, the economy isn’t the greatest for students graduating from universities, we know tuitions are higher and class sizes are bigger.”

The university spent 200 hours interviewing 150 students, community members and faculty to develop a strategy to expand mental health initiatives and services. To begin with they will train 100 front line students and staff to recognize the first signs of declining mental health.

“It’s about making sure our campus is accessible and accommodating to students that have mental health issues,it’s about looking and thinking about our classrooms and our teaching methods and how they are set up” says Dr. Munn.

McMaster will also increase the number of health professionals and open up more space for treatment.

McMaster also recieved almost $900,000 from the Ontario government for a program called arrive and thrive. The university says it will close a critical gap in community mental health services by bringing supports and counselling directly to students on campus.