On Feb. 9, the Faculty of Arts became the first faculty on campus to formally adopt the Campus Mental Health Strategy. The unanimous vote in favour of the strategy’s adoption signals an important step toward academic units showing support for the strategy and its implementation on campus.
The objective of the Campus Mental Health Strategy is to support the mental health and well-being of all students, faculty, staff and postdoctoral scholars and to contribute to building a “community of caring” on campus. The strategy was approved by the Board of Governors and the General Faculties Council in October 2015.
Following the formal adoption of the strategy, the Arts Faculty Council also approved a motion for the dean to strike a committee, which will be tasked with identifying ways in which the strategy can be tailored to the Faculty of Arts and create a plan for implementation. It will also look at ways in which pilot projects for the Campus Mental Health Strategy can be implemented within the faculty. The committee will be representative of all staff and student groups within the faculty.
“It shows that this is a really important issue and that the Faculty of Arts cares about its students, staff, faculty and postdoctoral scholars,“ says Andrew Szeto, director of the Campus Mental Health Strategy. “The Faculty of Arts is a leader in this area and I hope that by adopting the strategy, others across campus will do so as well.”