Editorial: "U of T must immediately address its mental health crisis"
"Another student death at Bahen calls for immediate action from university administration, media, government.
When news broke on Friday that yet another person had died in the Bahen Centre for Information Technology in an apparent suicide, the U of T community once again entered a cycle that has become horrifyingly familiar since it first appeared in mid-2018: grief, anger, and a question that is all the more tragic because of its frequency — ‘again?’
The mental health crisis at U of T had been apparent long before the first reported suicide on campus on June 24, 2018, and each known death since has only furthered the grief felt by students and highlighted U of T’s acute failure to address the problem.
This incident marks the third death at Bahen Centre and the fourth reported death on campus in less than two years. These are stories that we should never have to report on.
We call on the U of T administration to truly engage with the real pain that students are going through and implement immediate and institutional change."
Read the whole editorial here: https://thevarsity.ca/2019/09/...ental-health-crisis/
The University of Toronto is consistently ranked the number 1 school in Canada and is home to 61 339 students.
I remember not that long ago, there were 5 suicides at the University of Guelph in one school year. A campaign began by students and the university took a look at their mental health services and made changes. What was remarkable to me at that time was that my own son was struggling with video gaming addiction, anxiety and depression during his first and second year at the U of G. In his second year I encouraged him to reach out for support with student services. They were amazing - they provided him a counselor, a special needs advisor, and a peer support student. The help was there. What I understand now is that my son didn't realize he had a mental health issue, so he didn't go looking for assistance, until he hit a crisis point. I am grateful he at least reached out to me. He could have made a very different and tragic decision. How do we create a system in schools where students and professors can look for red flags in others, and encourage them to seek help?
I had similar experience as Elain not with Gulph U but with York University for the university's mental support service. They were amazing in terms of counselor (available with appointment), peer support student (higher years in psychology major, bi-weekly reviews on scheduling, stress-problems, communications with professors etc.). And in one case when my child felt overwhelmed that needed quick response, an emergency meeting with a counselor was arranged unexpectedly quick. I have been recommending this to many.
My experience as a parent with UofT for student service on mental health was a difficult one that included unresponsive repeated emails (with my child's consent for communication). Family support is a protective factor and should be used as much as possible (with student's privacy consent, of course).
My own experience as a student in UofT was that professors truly 'lecture' without much connections with students, let alone seeing 'red flag'. Suspect this can be even worse now since large class size that some classes in Convocation Hall is over a thousand students by one professor.
Therefore, it's vital to educate our young adults what to watch for (for themselves and/or classmates and friends) and who to get immediate contact before there is any issue. The help a student can ask including 'retroactive' ones (Ontario Human Rights Commission point it out that "...should not refuse to consider accommodation requests retroactively" , from the Commission's study posted at: http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/learn...institutions-ontario) in the article '"Inquiry addressing systemic barriers at post-secondary institutions in Ontario" .