Acknowledge the Barriers to Better the Practices: Support for Student Mental Health in Higher Education

Abstract

Despite marked improvements, intervention for students with a mental health problem or illness in Canadian higher education settings remains not yet successful, mature, or sustainable. A number of challenges have been identified as contributory to the shortcomings surrounding student mental health in colleges and universities. In this paper, I explore some of the more common barriers that currently limit the development, implementation, and sustainability of student mental health support practices. The barriers of focus include, prevailing stigma and stereotypes, underdeveloped policies, and minimal opportunities for professional development and training. I specifically highlight how these barriers frame the challenges for teaching faculty and academic staff in promoting or supporting student mental health and well-being. Following an identification and discussion of barriers, I offer suggestions on how they can be overcome, or at the very least minimized, and what this would mean for teaching and learning in relation to post-secondary student mental health. For example, in an attempt to clarify current policies surrounding mental health, I suggest and explore how institutions can assign particular individuals (i.e., a designated “task force”) as responsible for the development, implementation, and evaluation of mental health policies. Ultimately, the first step to better mental health support practices is to acknowledge how they are challenged. Malgré de nettes améliorations, l’intervention pour les étudiants qui souffrent de problèmes de santé mentale ou de maladie mentale dans les établissements d’enseignement supérieur canadiens continue à ne pas être efficace, mature ou durable. Un certain nombre de défis ont été identifiés comme facteurs qui contribuent aux faiblesses en ce qui concerne la santé mentale des étudiants dans les collèges et les universités. Dans cet article, j’explore certains des obstacles les plus communs qui limitent à l’heure actuelle le développement, la mise en oeuvre et la durabilité des pratiques de soutien de la santé mentale des étudiants. Les obstacles comprennent les attitudes de stigmatisation et les stéréotypes, les politiques trop faibles et les opportunités minimes de développement professionnel et de formation. Je souligne en particulier comment ces obstacles encadrent les enjeux auxquels font face les enseignants et le personnel académique pour promouvoir ou soutenir la santé mentale et le bien-être des étudiants. Après avoir identifié et examiné les obstacles, je propose des suggestions sur la manière dont ils peuvent être surmontés ou, tout au moins, minimisés, et ce que cela pourrait signifier pour l’enseignement et l’apprentissage en relation avec la santé mentale des étudiants en milieu post-secondaire. Par exemple, afin de clarifier les politiques actuelles concernant la santé mentale, je suggère et j’explore comment les établissements peuvent désigner des personnes spécifiques (par ex. un « groupe de travail » désigné) comme responsables du développement, de la mise en oeuvre et de l’évaluation des politiques sur la santé mentale. En définitive, la première étape pour en arriver à de meilleures pratiques de soutien de la santé mentale est de reconnaître la manière dont elles sont mises au défi.

Sharing Narratives to Foster Mental Health Literacy in Teacher Candidates

“…The university environment is increasingly recognized as stressful and demanding (MacKean, 2011;Knowlden, Hackman, & Sharma, 2016), with many institutions coming to view professors as critical persons in supporting students' mental health and social-emotional needs (DiPlacito-DeRango, 2016). We believe that offering highly specialized courses in mental health and wellness that go beyond knowledge dissemination to include a focus on personal experiences is one method of providing such support.…”

Considering how tertiary education providers can best support the mental health and wellbeing of their students

“…Recent research by NZUSA also suggests increased counselling services as a first priority to best develop support for tertiary students (New Zealand Union of Students' Association, 2018). Also, increasing information and providing greater opportunities for professional development for staff have been suggested as ways of supporting students' mental health wellbeing within tertiary environments (DiPlacito-DeRango, 2016;Fossey et al, 2017). At a broader level, the Tertiary Educational Strategy recognises "government, TEOs, and schools need to work together to support at-risk young people into tertiary education, higher levels of study and on to employment" (Ministry of Education, 2018.).…”

“…The framework below is a visual representation of all these ideas and shows how they interrelate and complement each other. Being more proactive includes creating greater awareness and understanding about mental health and wellbeing through increased promotion of existing resources and courses that are available (DiPlacito-DeRango, 2016). This includes resources such as counselling which is frequently accessed or managed through health centres.…”

Higher education inclusion and its dimensions: A theoretical proposal

“…Still, students feel reluctant to share their mental health problems at university, and normally seek help when symptoms have aggravated, mainly because there is still a lot of prejudice in relation to mental health issues (Quinn et al, 2009;DiPlacito-DeRango, 2016;Kirsh et al, 2016). In general, students perceive that there is lack of adequate support services and lecturers and staff seem underprepared to engage with them in terms of their mental health problems, and some even tend to dismiss issues arguing normal stress or laziness (Quinn et al, 2009;DiPlacito-DeRango, 2016). Besides this, the lack of opportunities to talk about mental health issues and the lack of support given by institutions leave students feeling isolated and excluded (Quinn et al, 2009;Kirsh et al, 2016).…”