New online resources for students seeking mental health accommodations

Accessing information to help students with mental health accommodations at post-secondary schools across Ontario just got easier with the completion of a large-scale, collaborative project between researchers at St. Lawrence College and Queen’s University.

The project involved developing province-wide standards and guidelines to be used by students seeking academic accommodations for mental health. These online resources are now available at stlawrencecollege.ca, allowing students and staff to easily access the information they need regarding mental health accommodations in one place. Funding for the project was provided by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities through the Mental Health Innovation Fund.

The extensive online resources include:

  1. Recommendations based on province-wide standards and guidelines for the kinds of documentation that post-secondary students must provide when they are seeking academic accommodations for a mental health condition. The Recommendations for Documentation Standards and Guidelines were based on extensive research, consultations and a review of the literature.
  2. Eight videos dealing with various topics related to the accommodation process. The videos will help students, faculty, access/disability advisors, student leaders and administrators on how best to accommodate post-secondary students with mental health disabilities. Clickhere to access the videos.
  3. An information and resource handbook for students with mental health disabilities in post-secondary education. The handbook contains information on the accommodation process, rights and responsibilities, how to manage your mental health on campus and mental health and the law. Click here to view the student handbook.

“We are extremely pleased with the breadth of consultation that occurred over the past two years that provided the project team with the information necessary to develop the resource materials,” said Wanda Williams, Director of Student Services at St. Lawrence College.  “I encourage educators to review the recommendations as we continue to support students with mental health issues.”

The project team included Principal Investigator Dr. Michael Condra, who recently retired as Director of Health, Counselling and Disability Services (now Student Wellness Services) at Queen’s University; Wanda Williams, Director of Student Services at St. Lawrence College; Eleanor Condra, St. Lawrence College (Research Consultant);  Sarah Gauthier and Helen Gillis (Research Assistants). Michael Whiteman, Associate Director, Counselling, AccessAbility and Health Centre at St. Lawrence College was an advisor on the project.

More information about the project can be found on its CICMH’s MHIF project webpage, here.

For all additional information please go to:  http://www.stlawrencecollege.ca/news/2015/mental-health-resources-online/

Categories
Recent News
Browse News