Brescia University College’s Partnership with CMHA and the Living Life to the Full Program

We had a chat with Sheldon Hill, Educator and Case Manager at Brescia University College – Canada’s only women’s only university located in London, Ontario. Sheldon shared his experience on Brescia’s collaboration with CMHA Oxford in delivering the Living Life to the Full Program (LLTF) to their students.

Living Life to the Full is an eight-week course that provides people from all walks of life with effective tools to maximize their ability to manage life’s challenges. The group-based course is based on the principles of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) which focuses on understanding how thoughts, feelings, and behaviours work together to impact well-being.

These sessions are normally 90 minutes long and focus on a different topic, such as understanding unhelpful thoughts, engaging in enjoyable activities, coping with anger, and solving daunting problems.

 Sheldon shared with us that due to the nature of the semester, in order to improve engagement and retention their students completed the program over the course of six two hour sessions on campus.

Some tips Sheldon had that he thought would make this experience even more enriching for students and front-line staff were:

• Recruiting students for the program can be a challenge. Start as early as possible! (Ideally in early September)
• Adjust the LLTF program so it is more condensed by having less but longer sessions.
• Ask  the coaches to provide examples that are more relevant to post-secondary students
• Provide the trainers with some context so they have a better idea of who their audience is. Look into training your own staff personnel.
• Do the LLTF courses yourself first so you can explain what it’s like to students.
• Develop a criteria that allows you to determine if you are targeting it to the students who need it the most. Do screening interviews so you are able to assess the level of risk.

For more information about the Living Life to the Full course in Ontario, please contact 416-977-5580 ext 4135 or hroussel@ontario.cmha.ca.