You’re not alone: mental health services at U of G

While balancing schoolwork, a social life, sleep, diet, and exercise, the average student faces a lot of stress. Add mental health struggles on top of that, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.
Fortunately, the University of Guelph offers a wide array of services to help student cope, and almost all of them are free—it’s simply a matter of seeking them out.
For first-year students especially, learning about these resources can make the transition much easier.
“It’s a very big time in students’ lives,” says Josephine Gaupholm, Wellness Educator Assistant and Senior Peer of Forward Minds. “They’re going from a time in their lives where it’s very structured: they’re going from their parents and support groups and coming into a new lifestyle where they’re coming into residence and living on their own for the first time.”
According to Gaupholm, the Wellness Education Centre is a great place to start if you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health.
“So if [students] want to find out more about, say, depression or stress or other mental health issues, they can come to us for a starting point,” explains Gaupholm. “Then we can say, ‘okay, if you want this resource, go here.’ We give them all the information that’s out there and then they can make their own decision about what’s best for them.”
Another good first step is logging onto FeelingBetterNow, which, according to Gaupholm, “is a free and confidential online assessment tool that students can access.
“It asks several questions pertaining to mental health and provides personalized ‘next steps’ for students at the end of the questionnaire,” says Gaupholm.
The university also offers several counselling services. One of these is the Student Support Network (SSN), which is fairly unique in that it’s a peer-to-peer program.
“Student Support Network operates out of Raithby House currently,” says Gaupholm. “It’s a drop-in service, so if someone wants to go chat with another student, they’re all highly-trained volunteers that staff that centre. “There’s also counselling services that offer more professional help. It’s completely free—a lot of students don’t realize that. They have a drop-in service, or you can make an appointment ahead of time by phone call or visiting their website. The clinic downstairs from the Wellness Centre [Student Health Services] is also free if you need a referral or anything like that.”
The Wellness Centre also runs several initiatives throughout the school year to promote mental health awareness. One of the biggest is One-in-Five Mental Health Awareness Week, which is set to run the week of Nov 9.
“In the past year, we put on different athletic events: we did yoga and Zumba, and we also did a community art project in MacNaughton,” says Gaupholm. “We had different students and alumni speaking, which is always very powerful. It’s one thing for a person to get up there who’s a faculty member or staff to get up there, and it’s another thing for a student to share a personal story with you.”
Even if you consider yourself to be mentally healthy, there are still workshops you can attend for advice on how to help a struggling friend. “During that week, we also did what we called ‘Let’s Talk.’ In the past, we’ve had students come here asking how they could help someone who’s going through something. So we developed a workshop to address that.”
Other small actions you can take to help a struggling student include sending an anonymous note and piece of candy through the Students in Touch program.
This program is aimed mainly at first-year students living in residence but is open to all students.
A popular time to send these notes is during exams. This period can be especially difficult for many students, which is why additional events are run during this time.
“Some other events we do are exam stress busters in the library, so we team up with them to put on different little events. The past year we did bubble wrap with a sheet of paper that said ‘pop one an hour for stress relief,” says Gaupholm. And if you don’t want to trek over to the library, numerous resources are also available off-campus. “There are also a couple phone lines that aren’t affiliated with U of G, but are free for everyone,” says Gaupholm. “[The latter] is more of the crisis line, whereas Good2Talk is just more if you need to call someone up and chat about life. It’s specifically for university and college students.”
University life can be stressful, but resources aren’t difficult to find — often, the hardest part is simply reaching out to accept them.
“Don’t be afraid to seek help,” concludes Gaupholm. “Maintenance, as opposed to crisis care, is what we’re wanting from students. Even if you don’t know for sure what’s wrong, and you just think ‘hey, I’ve been feeling crappy for a couple days,’ … going to talk to someone never hurt anybody, and seek the resources if you need them, because there’s nothing wrong with that.”