As of March 2021, implementation of 86% of the recommendations from the President’s Advisory Committee on Student Mental Health report has been completed. Work is currently underway on the remaining 14% (5) of the recommendations, which the Committee on Student Mental Health (CoSMH) aims to address by the end of April 2021. CoSMH hosted the University of À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ’s inaugural Virtual Conference on Student Mental Health Research in November 2020, during Thrive Week. The conference featured presentations on completed and on-going research by 14 faculty, staff, graduate students, and external partners; 14 posters submitted by staff and students; and almost 300 registrants. If you missed it, recordings of all oral and poster presentations are available here.
​​​​​Since October 2020, the committee has voted to confirm the completion of 8 PAC-SMH recommendations:
- Recommendation #2, equip AccessAbility Services with capacity to review confidential mental health-related accommodation requests on campus;
- Recommendation #6, strike a committee to review academic program sequences that require students to acquire their first co-op position in the second term;
- Recommendation #16, support and recognize faculty professional development, and share best practices between instructors;
- Recommendation #23, use research on best practices to assess digital apps for self-assessment, self-management, and early intervention;
- Recommendation #24, create a mechanism for coordination and knowledge sharing between peer support networks;
- Recommendation #26, develop new training programs for parents supporting students, sexual violence prevention, and bystander intervention for orientation leaders;
- Recommendation #30, develop and communicate mental health supports and resources for students off-campus; and
- Recommendation #36, endorse and advocate to the provincial government to implement the In It Together report.
More details are available on our Recommendation Progress page. CoSMH supports the formation of a new, standing mechanism at UÀ¶Ý®ÊÓƵ to address existing and emerging student mental health and wellness, and will be releasing a final report detailing the committee's work and making recommendations for the new mechanism.