Help when needed
A university student’s life is anything but 9 to 5. There are academic responsibilities combined with the rigours and demands of work, home and social life, which is very difficult to balance at the best of times, never mind when assignments are due and exams are coming up. It is not unusual at all to see students studying and working in the evening hours in different nooks and crannies across campus, and feelings of crisis can creep up at any time.
Wellness Services Director Jody Arndt points out that after hours, when Wellness’s Student Counselling Services have wound down, it falls to disparate University entities that happen to be open on campus to assist students in getting the help they need. What with the University’s work around its Suicide Prevention Strategic Framework and its commitment to the Okanagan Charter, it was recognized that more resources should be provided during times when students are alone with their thoughts.
“Within the context of post-secondary, students are growing and learning and changing, and all sorts of things are happening for them in their lives,” Arndt says. At night, “They're not in class anymore and they have time to unpack and kind of relax and stop and slow down. That's often when feelings of crisis build up because they have an opportunity to actually start thinking about other things aside from what's at hand in the classroom.”
And they need a place to go.
The need for an after-hours central hub has been recognized and addressed by the Viewpoint Foundation, which was established in 2001 by Calgary’s Van Wielingen family as part of an overall wealth stewardship strategy through their family office and investing firm, Viewpoint Investment Partners. Since then they have contributed more than $16 million to over 100 charitable organizations.
Viewpoint has generously provided $750,000 for the establishment of the new After Hours Peer Support Centre in Wyckham House, which officially opened on Sept. 16 in the Students’ Association of Mount Royal University’s (SAMRU) current Peer Support Centre space.
“We had a serendipitous conversation with a connection at MRU that sparked the initial momentum for exploring this innovative mental-health care model. The team at MRU was so open and excited about the idea, as was the Viewpoint board, that the pieces fell into place quickly. It has been a pleasure to partner with MRU on this initiative,” says Viewpoint’s communications and philanthropy coordinator Jessica Ratushniak on behalf of the Foundation.
The Centre is unusual among post-secondaries in that it's an on-campus after-hours peer support program that can help ease pressures on health-care services and ensure students are directed towards the services they need, Arndt says.
“A top priority for the Viewpoint Foundation is the establishment of a community-based respite centre that serves as an alternative to emergency departments and other clinical settings for individuals experiencing a mental-health crisis. We came across the Recovery Café model, which is kind of like ‘Respite Light,’ and the MRU Peer Support Centre was seen as a perfect opportunity to see this type of model in practice,” Ratushniak says.
The After Hours Peer Support Centre will operate Monday to Thursday from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m., as well as Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m. The hope is to add more hours as the Centre gets itself established, and provide even more assistance during the daytime as well.
The doors are now wide open.
“Mental-health awareness is crucial in promoting understanding, reducing stigma, and encouraging individuals to seek help when needed,” Ratushniak says. “This awareness has come a long way, and we often support others in seeking help, but it can be harder to seek and accept help ourselves. We need to continue to raise awareness and normalize the fact that it is ok to get help.”
Services provided
Julia Nicholls is a peer support coordinator with MRU’s Healthy Campus Team and a Social Work Diploma alumna. She is a key contact and resource with the After Hours Peer Support Centre and has a wide knowledge base about mental-health supports across Calgary.
“The After Hours Peer Support Centre revolves around crisis and distress support. That's our first set of programming,” Nicholls says. “And so, if students are feeling that they are in crisis, they are in distress and they need a safe space to go to, they can land in our centre. Upon walking through our doors, they're going to be greeted by friendly faces, AKA other students, who are simply just going to take a very gentle approach to determine what their need is. So, whether that's a private conversation where they need to offload, great. They'll take them into a private room. If they're just looking for a space to be around other people and not necessarily feel so lonely or maybe just do schoolwork with the company of some chatter around, that's an option as well.”
If needed, they will be referred to external entities with different areas of expertise.
Down the road, Nicholls says they will be holding events, webinars, workshops and whatever programming around mental health that's relevant to the community's needs as well. There are also opportunities for students to volunteer to complete their social work practicum.
“There are a lot of programs on our campus that have students who would benefit from those volunteer hours in a setting like this in order to move into master's programs, like psychology for example, but also child studies or criminology. So, it creates a space on our campus where we're also supporting our students by giving them the opportunity to get some volunteer hours, to help move them into that next level of their education,” Arndt says.
The leadership and foresight of Viewpoint has provided a very literal foundation upon which mental-health awareness and care at MRU can continue to grow and flourish as part of everyday life on campus.
“We're just so grateful for Viewpoint’s support of the program and we really couldn't have done this without them. Not only are they bringing the funding to help to support the Centre, they also bring with them partnerships around mental-health supports within the community that are just invaluable to the students at MRU,” Arndt says, and that this was truly a cross-campus team effort with SAMRU playing a pivotal part through the provision of the space as well.
“We were happy to provide space in the Wyckham House Student Centre to make the After Hours Peer Support Centre a success. We're confident that this program serves a need and will have a positive impact on the student experience at MRU,” says Lisa Antichow, SAMRU support services manager.
Learn more about volunteer opportunities at the After Hours Peer Support Centre.