Camosun counsellors will be trying to find out how students and staff are doing mentally during Mental Health Awareness Week at the college.
The college is providing free mental-health screenings on Thursday, November 3 at the main floor of the library on Lansdowne campus for all interested students and staff (staff screenings are from 9 am to 9:30 am; student screenings from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm). Participants can complete confidential surveys designed to determine whether or not they are struggling with mental-health issues, specifically depression, anxiety, and excessive drinking of alcohol.
“This conversation is really just a confirmation, a sort of reality-check discussion,” says Camosun counsellor Chris Balmer. “If the student then wants to see a counsellor, we give them a referral card, and can even walk them over to the counselling centre. The counsellors are set up to see students all day, on a drop-in basis, to further that conversation, and problem-solve a bit, and provide some support and encouragement.”
The mental-health screens are assigned a level of concern. Students and staff can then talk to a clinician from the Capital Mental Health Association (CMHA) about their results.
The Camosun counselling centre has been running mental-health clinics for several years. Generally, 60-70 students attend each clinic. Some have major concerns, and some are simply curious.
“A good 40-50 percent go and the result they receive in terms of their level of concern does not surprise them,” says Balmer. “In other words, they’re aware that they’re having a hard time, and the mental-health check-up gives them some way of naming what’s going on. It confirms that what they’re experiencing is, say, anxiety, and that there’s help for that.”
But the screenings aren’t just for people with mental illnesses. They are just as valuable for the general student body that can gain coping mechanisms from the clinic.
“Students are in the middle of the semester, under the pressure of assignments, and they’re becoming overwhelmed,” says CMHA education coach Will Gordon. “The clinic is a great way of checking in on your sleep pattern, anxiety level, and depression level, and learning where you can get help. A mental-health check-in, just like a physical check-in, is invaluable.”
Meanwhile, Balmer says the mental-health checkups are also good for putting things into perspective. “Sometimes people go and say, ‘I’m relieved to know I’m not depressed. And it’s just life. And I’m coping with life just like everyone else does.’”
A screening day is in the works for Interurban staff and students for next semester.