{"id":1085,"date":"2011-11-02T12:53:34","date_gmt":"2011-11-02T19:53:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=1085"},"modified":"2011-11-02T12:53:34","modified_gmt":"2011-11-02T19:53:34","slug":"college-provides-mental-health-screenings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2011\/11\/02\/college-provides-mental-health-screenings\/","title":{"rendered":"College provides mental-health screenings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Camosun counsellors will be trying to find out how students and staff are doing mentally during Mental Health Awareness Week at the college.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Counsellor Chris Balmer (photo by Rose Jang\/Nexus).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis conversation is really just a confirmation, a sort of reality-check discussion,\u201d says Camosun counsellor Chris Balmer. \u201cIf 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cA good 40-50 percent go and the result they receive in terms of their level of concern does not surprise them,\u201d says Balmer. \u201cIn other words, they\u2019re aware that they\u2019re having a hard time, and the mental-health check-up gives them some way of naming what\u2019s going on. It confirms that what they\u2019re experiencing is, say, anxiety, and that there\u2019s help for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the screenings aren\u2019t just for people with mental illnesses. They are just as valuable for the general student body that can gain coping mechanisms from the clinic.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents are in the middle of the semester, under the pressure of assignments, and they\u2019re becoming overwhelmed,\u201d says CMHA education coach Will Gordon. \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Balmer says the mental-health checkups are also good for putting things into perspective. \u201cSometimes people go and say, \u2018I\u2019m relieved to know I\u2019m not depressed. And it\u2019s just life. And I\u2019m coping with life just like everyone else does.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

A screening day is in the works for Interurban staff and students for next semester.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-november-2-2011"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1085"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1164,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085\/revisions\/1164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}