Halting the rising tide: the student mental health crisis on post-secondary campuses

It’s no secret that a mental health crisis is raging on Canadian post-secondary campuses. Even before COVID-19, post-secondary students in Canada reported shocking levels of depression and anxiety. The onset of the pandemic, and the campus lockdowns that followed in late March 2020, have only served to further these negative trends. While the pandemic has shed new light on the growing rates of mental health challenges and illness among post-secondary students, these trend lines have sadly existed for years. It’s beyond time for governments of all levels to take serious action to safeguard the health of Canada’s future. It’s time for serious investment in post-secondary mental health services. If we rewind to a time before terms like “social distancing” and “flattening the curve” were commonplace in Canada, data shows us there was already a mental health crisis growing across Canadian campuses well before the pandemic. In 2016, more than four-in-10 post-secondary students in Canada felt that they were “so depressed it was difficult to function.” Roughly one-in-five students reported they had been diagnosed with anxiety and about one-in-10 had seriously considered suicide. Mental health experts have been raising flags around student mental health for years, understanding that most mental health issues originate during adolescence and young adulthood, with many describing it as a “rising tide” that needs to be halted immediately. Regrettably, rather than halt the rising tide, post-secondary students have been hit with the additional tsunami of COVID-19. Over the last 18 months, students across the country have struggled with an irregular and unprecedented post-secondary experience, mixed with the anxiety that comes with a global pandemic. The March 2020 closure of campuses across the country, and the suspension of most in-person learning and student support services for the entire 2020-21 school year, while necessary, have made an already unhealthy and dire situation even worse. The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) has been tracking student mental health since the onset of the pandemic, and data commissioned in May 2021 shows a concerning acceleration of pre-pandemic trends. According to the report, Continued Concerns: Post-Secondary Students One Year into COVID-19, more than 70 per cent of students say they feel stressed, anxious, or severely isolated due to the pandemic. There has also been a worrying increase in the number of students who reported more serious forms of mental health struggles, with one-in-two highlighting that they feel despair (up 16 per cent since our 2020 survey), and three-in-four saying they feel overwhelmed (up 10 per cent). What is more, not only has COVID-19 worsened pre-existing mental health challenges, it has also created entirely new challenges for 64 per cent of students. These numbers are shocking, but not entirely surprising. While post-secondary students have struggled to deal with isolation and pandemic-induced anxiety, in-person campus services like counselling and peer-to-peer support groups have been shuttered or digitized to manage the spread of the virus, further compounding the crisis. These past 18 months have been difficult for all Canadians, but it’s clear that post-secondary students have been uniquely impacted by COVID-19. Leading into the 2021-22 school year, it’s time for governments of all levels to make up for lost time and intervene in the post-secondary mental health crisis. This is not a short-term challenge that can be remedied with a single government announcement, but rather a long-term struggle that is in need of comprehensive attention and sustainable funding. While money for on-campus support services at post-secondary institutions come from the province, the federal government must use its power of the purse to create new funding arrangements with the provinces to increase mental health care services, and reduce wait times, on campuses across the country. The Government of Canada should also focus on funding on-campus awareness campaigns through the Mental Health Commission of Canada and investing in new and innovative online tools such as the Wellness Together Portal. Only through sustained investment and attention can we stop the mental health tsunami facing post-secondary students in Canada today. It’s time to halt the rising tide. It’s time to protect the engineers, nurses, and scientists of the future. It’s time for serious investment in mental health support for post-secondary students. Marley Gillies is the chair of the Canadian Alliance of Students Associations’ board of directors. She is a political science student at the University of Calgary and has served as vice-president external for the University of Calgary Student Union for two consecutive terms. Kalin McCluskey is the executive director of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations. She is also a PhD candidate in Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of New Brunswick. She previously served as director of policy to a federal cabinet minister. The Hill Times

Halting the rising tide: the student mental health crisis on post-secondary campuses

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Halting the rising tide: the student mental health crisis on post-secondary campuses

The federal government must use its power of the purse to create new funding arrangements with the provinces to increase mental health care services, and reduce wait times, on campuses across the country.

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