Mental Health Services for Our Campus: Student Counselling Centre David Ness Associate Professor and Director Student Counselling Centre Student Support

Student Counselling Centre Who are we? –Multidisciplinary team of 9 counsellors, 2 administrative staff and 5 to 6 students-in-training –Clinical Psychologists, Counselling Psychologists, Counsellors and Social Workers What do we do? –Counselling services to students (daily first-come, first-serve intake appointments, crisis triage, individual and couple counselling, groups and workshops) –Consulting services to the University of Manitoba community –Training site for student counsellors

Student Counselling Centre Where are we? –474 University Centre (8:30 to 4:30, Monday to Friday) –S207 Medical Services – Bannatyne campus (noon to 7 p.m., Monday to Thursday, 8:30 to 4:30 Friday) –Aboriginal Student Centre - Migizii Agamik (Thursdays, 8:30 to 4:30) What do we see and what are we experiencing? –Virtually every psychological (or mental health) difficulty that adults experience –Increasing levels of distress –Increasing demand –Very challenging student situations

Student Counselling Centre What our student clients are indicating –Generalized anxiety and depression levels are very high – higher than samples of students seeking counselling elsewhere. –Social anxiety, academic distress and overall distress levels are high. What our counsellors are indicating –Relationship challenges/difficulties are the most common topic discussed in counselling –Anxiety is the second most common topic with generalized anxiety and social anxiety most common of the anxiety difficulties. –Depression, stress management, and trauma are the next most common topics. Trauma was discussed in approximately 25% of counselling sessions.

Student Counselling Centre What else should you know about us? –Free and Confidential –We do not turn away students who present in high distress –Use developmental approach where possible –Very active with outreach activities and have many partnerships on campus Other campus resources –Aboriginal Student Centre –Chaplains’ Association –Psychological Service Centre –Peers: Students Helping Students

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