St. Lawrence College Foundation has received a major donation of $25,000 from the RBC Children’s Mental Health Project to fund a new mental health gateway program on campus. The ASK program was developed by counsellors at St. Lawrence College after doing a resource review of existing mental health programs and services at the college. « The ASK program is basically a gatekeeper program for supporting individuals who are emotionally distressed, » Michael Whiteman, associate director, Counselling and AccessAbility and Health Centre services at St. Lawrence College, said. « We were looking for something to break down barriers of stigma and to assist people with being comfortable in engaging in the conversation of supporting others. » ASK stands for: A — Ask questions, active listening, acquire information; S — Situational and environmental scanning; K — Know your limits, when to ask for help, who to ask, know your resources.
