Mental health services for stressed, isolated or overwhelmed post-secondary students in Alberta are set to expand and improve after a multi-million dollar grant from the province.
The province announced Wednesday that the University of Alberta, University of Calgary and University of Lethbridge will each receive $3 million in grant funding over three years to expand campus mental health services and develop models of care that can be used on campuses across the province.
The Alberta Students Executive Council will also receive $1.5 million over three years to help all post-secondary students associations in the province implement mental health programs.
“The risk to post-secondary students in Alberta is very real. Study-loads and work-loads lead them feeling isolated and stressed. Many are away from home, many are lonely,” said Health Minister Fred Horne.
“It's devastating to students, to families, to the university family and to all of us as a community and a province... helping students learn to cope is just as important as helping them learn. When they come forward for help the resources need to be there to assist them when they're most receptive."
The $10.5 million funding is expected to provide additional staff, including psychologists, physiologists, clinical social workers, physicians, psychiatric nurses, and counselors.
Mental health initiatives that are expected to be launched as a result of the funding is the development of a mental health curriculum and a mental health triage program.
The grants will also pay for staff training on mental health issues.
Alberta Students Executive Council Chair Matthew Armstrong says the funding was needed for Alberta students.
"As students from across the province juggle competing demands of academic performance, financial pressures, part-time work, career development, relationships, and living away from family and social support systems, access to on-campus mental health services has become an increasingly important element of student success,” Armstrong said in a news release.
“There is urgent and unmet demand for these crucial services as the campus community is often the first place a struggling student will turn.”
A study conducted during the spring 2011 term at the University of Alberta found that students reported a higher level of mental health problems than the North American average.
Just over one per cent of students reported a suicide attempt and approximately seven per cent of students seriously thought of suicide.
"That's more than 2,500 students at this institution alone and almost 500 U of A students reported having attempted suicide, 500 in 2011. That is a shocking number," Horne said.
At the University of Calgary, severe psychiatric disorders have increased 5.6 times since 2005-06.
At the University of Lethbridge there has been a 76 per cent increase in booked counseling sessions in the past five years.
Funding for post-secondary mental health services is part of the first stage of Alberta’s Addiction and Mental Health Strategy.
Click here to read more about Alberta’s Addiction and Mental Health Strategy.
