How might those of us located within post-secondary institutions support students who have experience of the mental health system in a meaningful way? Drawing on scholarship in social movement studies and a case study in Ontario, Canada, I distinguish between the prevailing mental health and wellness offerings of educational institutions and…

The prevalence of mental illness is increasing among post-secondary students. Despite more mental health services being offered within post-secondary institutions, uptake among students remains suboptimal. This study aimed to examine facilitators and barriers for students seeking mental health services through service providers' perspectives.…

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced an unforeseen challenge to social work field education and drastically changed the landscape of social work direct practice. In March 2021, University of Toronto's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work launched the Talk It Out Counseling Clinic (the Clinic), training MSW students to provide short-term counseling…

Background: Mental disorders most likely manifest during adolescence, providing opportunities for schools and professionals to implement standardized mental health literacy (MHL) interventions to support improvement of mental health outcomes. Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of an MHL intervention (the Guide) on knowledge, stigma,…

This investigatory study sought to explore the range and variation of well-being initiatives on a select cross-section of college campuses across the United States and in Canada. This whitepaper seeks to highlight innovative practices that may inspire institutions to consider new ways of promoting well-being for both students and employees. In…

Introduction: Mental health concerns have been noted to be highly prevalent for youth with intellectual disability (ID), with or without autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The purpose of the current study was to examine a Canadian sample of youth with ID, with or without ASD, to explore caregiver-reported percentages, predictors, and treatment…

Objectives: Longitudinal Integrated Clerkships (LICs) promote educational continuity, professional identity formation, and community-based care, and are widely used in rurally focused medical education. While their academic resilience has been noted during systemic stress less is known about how such stress affects the personal lives and…

This pilot study investigated the effectiveness of Healthy Minds, Healthy Schools (HMHS), a universal school cognitive-behavioral therapy program aimed at improving anxiety and emotion regulation. Using a quasi-experimental design with open assignment to groups, elementary students were assigned to either the intervention (n = 186) or comparison…

Programming aimed at promoting positive student mental health and reducing or preventing mental-ill health is common within schools in Ontario. A brief, valid, and scalable measure was needed to assess the organizational conditions, or the capacity, readiness, and resources of schools to successfully implement and sustain this programming. In…

We assessed the psychometric properties of the visual analog scale (VAS) form of the Outcome Rating Scale (ORS) using item response theory (IRT) with a sample of 2,109 Canadian counseling clients. Findings indicate that the ORS was unidimensional and that the equal-interval assumption was not tenable for the VAS.

Community-based partnerships are integral to mental health programming and research. However, there are limited published guidelines that apply the principles of community-based participatory research (CBPR), especially within the context of supporting vulnerable youth populations. This article demonstrates the application of the CBPR principles…

Objective: This study aimed to better understand the mental health experiences of students as they prepared to transition out of university. Participants: Participants included 18 recently graduated students from a Canadian university. Methods: Virtual one-on-one semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted and analyzed following the…

This study used administrative data to compare the socio-demographics, health conditions, and health service use of autistic adults with adults with and without other developmental disabilities, after matching for age and sex. Autistic women and men were more likely to have a wide range of physical and mental health conditions compared to adults…

Students with lived experience in government care can face significant challenges in their lives and their educational journeys. Students entering higher education may be simultaneously transitioning out of government care and grappling with the complexities of a new educational system. Students formerly in care are more likely than the general…

The mental health of undergraduate students is a concern across many North American institutions. To support students' mental well-being and help them manage stress, many Canadian post-secondary institutions have introduced a mid-semester break during the fall term. However, there has been limited work evaluating whether this fall break is…