Vanier awarded $25,000 BELL LET’S TALK GRANT

May 7, 2021

Vanier College is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a $25,000 grant through the Bell Let’s Talk Post-Secondary Fund – Kickoff Grant. The grant will support activities to improve student mental health and is aligned with the National Standard of Canada for Mental and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students .

The National Standard of Canada for Mental Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students provides a set of voluntary guidelines to help increase awareness, reduce stigma, improve life and resiliency skills, and create a healthier and safer educational environment overall. Bell Let’s Talk funding helped enable the creation of the Standard, led by the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) in partnership with the Canadian Standards Association (CSA).

Vanier’s commitment and efforts to support student mental health and well-being is more important than ever, and more pronounced due to the pandemic. The college developed and administered a Mental Health and Wellness Survey this past January 2021 to capture a portrait of its students' assets, deficits and stressors. The information that students so courageously shared serves to advance an appreciation of the unique intersection of student identities, and helps to inform the College in its orientations, offer of services and distribution of resources.

To this end, Vanier College has drawn up an ambitious plan of six initiatives to start the conversation about student mental health and well-being and implement the Standard. The project includes:

  • The creation of a Student Advisory Committee on Mental Health and Wellness;
  • Organizing and hosting a Town Hall Meeting for students to speak about their experience, wellness/harms, and reconciliation;
  • Devoting efforts to suicide prevention and developing a Suicide Postvention Protocol for the College;
  • Offering professional development on mental health for College administrators;
  • Exploring “checking in on yourself" programs for students, which could include a self-assessment, virtual support, face to face support, kiosks/screening day, orientation information/outreach, chat box support, and curating tailored resources.

“Student Services would like to see the upcoming Vanier College 5 year Strategic Plan and Student Success Plan reference the National Standard of Canada for Mental Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students. Doing so would be a catalyst for the Vanier Community to work in a concerted and collective approach towards wellness,” says Christina Cichon, Director of Student Services.