Mental Health
Everyone has mental health to take care of, and university life presents opportunities that can challenge our mental health. At Laurier, you have access to a wide range of resources to both promote and maintain good physical, emotional and mental health. There are resources to help you in times of crisis, and resources to help you take a proactive approach to help protect you from mental illness, and to help you enjoy life to the fullest.
If you feel your mental health is challenged, you are not alone! The top three health factors that Laurier students identified this year as affecting their academic performance are all mental-health related. Stress (46.6%), anxiety (41.6%), and depression (28.5%) are all ranked higher than other medical concerns including colds and flu (source: NCHA survey, 2019). Knowing this, we give mental health extra attention in our Wellness Education programming.
Mental Health Training for Students
The following mental health trainings and certificates are offered at various times throughout the year. For more information on any of the following trainings, please email wellnessed@wlu.ca.
- More Feet on the Ground is an online mental health education program that teaches you how to recognize, respond to, and refer individuals experiencing mental health issues. This online certificate is eligible for recognition on the Laurier Experience Record.
- Building Resilience: From Surviving to Thriving is a one hour workshop for students that focuses on building academic and personal resilience. This training will next run March 2024.
- safeTALK is a three-hour workshop that trains you to identify persons with thoughts of suicide and connect them to suicide first-aid resources.
Interesting in requesting a less formal training? Students can also learn more about their personal mental health by joining our workshops.
Mental Health Advisory Committee
With the goal of unifying a mission and vision for mental health initiatives across the institution, the Mental Health Advisory Committee is a collective of staff from Laurier's Waterloo campus. Collaboration on all mental-health programming and centralized communication plan encourages collective efforts, and reduces duplication. The committee can support departments who do not necessarily focus solely on mental health initiatives, but have a need for programming and resources (e.g. Residence).
The National College Health Assessment and other relevant research informs initiatives based on current student mental health needs. Initiatives include Thrive Week, Mental Health Kits, and Gratitude Walls Across Campus.
The committee meets monthly, is coordinated by the Wellness Education team, and has accountability to the director of the Student Wellness Centre, and the Dean of Students.
Thrive
Thrive is a weeklong series of free events to build positive mental health on campus. Thrive Week runs every October and March on both Waterloo and Brantford campuses. Thrive is overseen by Laurier's Mental Heath Advisory Committee.
Share on social media how you thrive at Laurier by using #IThriveatLaurier.