Transitions: A Mental Health Literacy Program for Postsecondary Students

Abstract

Enhancement of mental health literacy is a mental health promotion strategy that may be effective at destigmatizing mental illness and increasing self-seeking behavior. Transitions is a mental health literacy program intended to heighten students' awareness and discussion of mental health problems and promote help-seeking behaviors. Transitions was launched in Nova Scotia in 2007 and distributed to 8,000 students. Transitions has since been launched nationally and is in the process of launching internationally. A follow-up study indicated over 95% of students felt they could relate to Transitions and enjoyed reading it, and 40% discussed Transitions with a friend.

The Mental Health Literacy Scale (MHLS): A new scale-based measure of mental health literacy

“…Consistent with the theory that increased knowledge and positive attitudes are related to better MHL, both nurses and psychiatrists have been found to have higher MHL than lay-people (Caldwell and Jorm, 2000). As higher levels of MHL are related to greater intentions to seek help (Smith and Shochet, 2011), a number of programs have been developed to improve MHL (e.g., Kitchener and Jorm, 2002;Bapat et al, 2009;Potvin-Boucher et al, 2010).…”

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

“…As with any attempt for institutions moving forward, time and commitment are of the essence. To date, researchers and practitioners have made several suggestions on how to make current practices more successful, or how to work towards overcoming the prevailing barriers that threaten student mental health support practices in post-secondary institutions (Eichler & Schwartz, 2010;Hanlon, 2012;Kitzrow, 2003;MacKean, 2011;Potvin-Boucher et al, 2010;Quinn et al, 2009;Shaw & Ruckdeschel, 2002). Below, I highlight some of the more prominent recommendations of researchers and practitioners in relation to the identified barriers, as well as suggest ways that can better inform teaching and learning when it comes to student mental health.…”

“…Firstly, considering the prevalence of stigma and stereotypes, a call for greater mental health literacy is warranted (Martin, 2010;Potvin-Boucher et al, 2010). One suggestion on how greater mental health literacy can be encouraged is to increase awareness in general, such as having student support services departments promote advertisements and publications that draw attention to student well-being.…”

“…Initiatives that improve the mental health literacy of teaching faculty, academic staff, and students in general can help bring stigma to the fore, and in doing so, strip it of its power to silence mental health overall (Potvin-Boucher et al, 2010). Subsequently, greater opportunities can evolve for post-secondary faculty/staff to identify and support students with a mental health problem (CACUSS & CMHA, 2014;CASA, 2014).…”

“…Decreasing stigma through mental health literacy can be formally approached via training and professional development initiatives. The most cost-effective way of integrating mental health training is to include mental health topics into existing training and professional development initiatives (Potvin-Boucher et al, 2010). For example, academic training seminars often coach professors how to foster interactive learning moments (Greenberg et al, 2003).…”