The Campus Mental Health Impact Fund boosts impactful mental health and well-being initiatives for our community of more than 40,000 leaders, change-makers, and engaged and compassionate citizens. By building a more caring campus culture, our students, staff, researchers and educators can grow, thrive and make meaningful impact in our world.
Funds invested into our impact fund support key Community Mental Health and Well-Being Strategy (CMHWS) priority areas, identified by the UCalgary community.
The CMHWS looks to enhance the mental health and well-being of our community through purpose-driven policy and meaningful implementation. It complements the contributions and excellence made by our UCalgary community members through nurturing a caring, supportive and respectful campus environment. This fosters the ability for our students, researchers, faculty and staff to thrive, and leads UCalgary to greater productivity, creativity and innovation for all.
In addition to responsively meeting our campus needs as they arise, supporting upstream and proactive well-being initiatives are all CMHWS priorities. The strategy also strives to stay nimble by responding to the ever-evolving needs of our campus community. Just last year, UCalgary renewed its commitment to well-being through our strategy’s update, which has undergone extensive and meaningful engagement with our community.
Here are just a few initiatives the CMHWS has led, informed or collaborated on:
- Research and Knowledge Hub: UCalgary’s CMHWS and the Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education are collaborating with researchers, service-providers, knowledge users, and people with lived experience to co-create a research and knowledge hub to advance mental health and well-being within the post-secondary and broader community. So far we’ve held several consultation sessions and a two-part symposium to establish the new hub, engaging with over 200 collaborators.
- Wellness Classroom Visits: Five-minute presentations conducted in classrooms by peer helpers, these sessions offer various strategies for students to improve study habits and personal wellness. More than 20,000 students have been reached since the program’s inception.
- UFlourish: The annual health-promotion series, UFlourish, equips the UCalgary and broader communities with tools and resources needed to flourish and be well. More than 10,000 people have been reached since the program’s inception through workshops, events, trainings and an open-access self-guided activity book .
- Certificate for Mental Wellbeing and Resilience: This award-winning, first-of-its-kind certificate provides students with experiential-learning opportunities and holistic development through practical knowledge and skills-development in better supporting oneself and others, and to be mental health champions in the community. So far, 48 UCalgary students have graduated from the certificate and 119 are currently enrolled.
- Suicide Awareness and Prevention Framework: A proactive approach to prevent suicide through education, training programs and awareness-building. More than 11,000 community members have been certified through trainings, and these numbers grow steadily year over year.
Please join us by making a gift to the Campus Mental Health Impact Fund. Together, we are supporting the health and success of our robust community!
