STU Mental Health

Mental health at St.Thomas University had been revolutionized since the introduction of the new mental health fee. Last march students voted yes to introducing a new $33.91 fee to increase mental health services. The fee is predicted to bring in over $300 000 in the coming years.

The new-found money is going towards creating new events, such as the ‘Being Enough retreat’, buying essential equipment, and attracting student volunteers. Equipment includes a new television that will loop important information on mental health.

“A TV screen where we can have showings of documentaries and a ton of resources that students can access whenever they want.”, says mental health coordinator Kelly Humber Kelly.

For the first time at STU a retreat was created for women who lack self-esteem or struggle with body image. The Being Enough retreat enabled women to bond with their peers and fellow classmates.

Along with new events, new centres have been built to support peer volunteering. The resource center, where counselling takes place throughout the day, turns into a peer support center at night. This allows students with busy schedules the opportunity to speak with peer volunteers about their problems.

“Although counselling is great and that will always be a service that we provide, sometimes peer support for mental health is as powerful or more so.”, explains Kelly Humber Kelly.

Not only do volunteers participate in peer support, a peer health education team works to plan events every month geared towards all students at St.Thomas as they aim to run events that touch on subjects and issues everyone can relate to. These issues can include depression, stress, loneliness, and a plethora of other concerns.

The goal of Mental Health services, workers and volunteers is to increase understanding, acceptance and openness within the university community.