Key Takeaways from the Project with the Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC) and the Centre for Innovation in Campus Mental Health (CICMH)

In 2020, the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Group published the Standard, formally known as the National Standard for Mental Health and Well-being for Post-Secondary Students, in partnership with post-secondary sector stakeholders and the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC). The Standard provides post-secondary institutes with guidelines for improving and strengthening the mental health of their students.

In 2021, a consortium of GTA colleges came together to explore options in how to both navigate and implement the Standard within their campus communities. With funding from Bell Let’s Talk, these post-secondary institutions worked with SRDC – a non-profit research organization – and the Centre for Innovation in Campus Mental Health (CICMH) to facilitate discussions and the use of best practices in terms of implementing the Standard across campuses in a way to meet the diverse and complex needs of post-secondary students.

At the start of this project, representatives of participating post-secondary institutions conducted self-assessments of the current state of their campus’ policies, programming, and practices relating to mental health. These post-secondary institutions used the Campus Mental Health Action Tracker, a self-assessment tool newly developed by SRDC (available in English, French, and this toolkit). Through working sessions, the participating post-secondary institutes collaboratively assessed the strength of their mental health initiatives relating to the Standard and areas they wanted to work on.

Environmental Scan

CICMH produced an environmental scan by using a two-pronged approach. The first part consisted of reviewing Canadian academic literature on mental health interventions involving post-secondary students, with the search terms correlating to the pillars of the Standard. The second part consisted of a scan of 148 Canadian post-secondary institutions’ websites, looking for programs within their wellness, equity, and accessibility pages. To ensure a fulsome scan, CICMH and SRDC also conducted interviews with the post-secondary consortium stakeholders.

Rubric

The SRDC and CICMH collaboratively developed a rubric of exemplary practices using language from the Standard and the Campus Mental Health Action Tracker. The purpose of this tool was for the participating post-secondary institutions to identify areas of strength and needed growth in their institutions’ practices and programming. By using this rubric to assess their practices at a high level, these institutions identified areas they felt aligned with the Standard, where there were gaps due to unmet needs, and the types of resources needed to meet those needs.

An exemplary practice, policy, or program was highlighted in the rubric as one that:

• Integrates as many socio-ecological levels as possible to achieve systemic change; that is, aiming for changes beyond the individual-level and looking to increase information, collaboration, and/or coordination within the institutions and/or with the community;
• Incorporates as many points of view and types of evidence as possible, especially from students and from equity-deserving groups, ranging from ethical considerations to design, to implementation, and to evaluation;
• Has a clear review process for continuous improvement (re: design, implementation, outcomes), including considerations for sustainability and scaling-up (if applicable).

For more information, the full rubric can be viewed here.

Policy Discussion

As the project’s final part, participating post-secondary institutions were asked to provide examples of existing mental health and/or health-adjacent policies within their institution for discussion among the group. The objective was to build an inventory of policies that spanned across the pillars (Supportive, Safe, and Inclusive Post-Secondary Environment, Literacy, Education, and Stigma Reduction, Accessibility, Early Intervention, Mental Health Supports, and Crisis Management and Postvention) to provide room for future collaboration on policy creation and revision. Discussion points covered policies that benefit mental health, those that impact mental health, and any perceived gaps within the pillars.

• Trust, support, and feedback from people at all levels of the institution are integral to effective program implementation and to continue, scale, or improve upon pre-existing programs to better align with the Standard.
• When supporting the implementation of the Standard, a foundational framework is essential to delivering a consistent program.
• There is a need for more knowledge on how campuses can incorporate an anti-oppressive lens into their practice, policies, and programming in a way that aligns with the Standard.
• The political and fiscal climate and economic strain can add additional constraints when expanding access to resources.
• The campus community must be involved in broadening the scope to increase the diversity of students reached by an institution’s programming through developing guiding principles, incorporating evaluative methods, targeting certain faculties, reaching across different campuses, and involving more equity-deserving groups.
• Mapping the current mental health practices, programs, and policies within your institutions under each pillar ensures an understanding of whether your institute represents all strategic pillars within the Standard.

Designed to support students’ mental health and wellbeing on campuses across Canada, the National Standard of Canada for Mental Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students is the first of its kind in the world. In being the first, the Standard creates an opportunity for universities, colleges, CÉGEPs, Indigenous institutions, polytechnics, and other post-secondary institutions to consider new, innovative approaches to campus mental health. This toolkit aims to provide different entry points in implementing the Standard by first looking outward at the national landscape and then by looking inward at how campuses align with the Standard. Through reflection on and changes to our policies, procedures, and services offered, post-secondary institutions can collaborate to ensure that students’ ever-evolving needs are being met throughout their post-secondary chapter.