Innis StudentLife
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The Innis College Office of Student Life invites the Innis community to take part in the Mental Health Skills Workshops Series. These programs will expand students’ capacity to recognize mental health challenges in themselves and peers, identify available resources to support mental wellness, and reduce stigma related to mental health on campus.
Students who attend the entire series will receive the Mental Health Skills Certificate and recognition on their Co-Curricular Record.
In order to complete the certificate you must complete these sessions. If you are unable to attend all the sessions, an alternate may be arranged by contacting studentlife.innis@utoronto.ca.
Below were the topics covered from the previous school year (2019-2020), stay tuned for more information on this school year’s details! In the meantime, if you’re interested in learning more details when it becomes available, please complete this Innis College Student Life Opportunities form.
Certificate Launch Event – (For Certificate Participants)
The launch will provide an opportunity for participants to meet each other and start to create positive and supportive relationships in order to learn in a constructive environment.
Participants will also have the opportunity to identify/explore their level of knowledge and perception of mental illness and mental health in a safe and inclusive space.
Identify, Assist, Refer – Online Module
This online module must be completed prior to the Launch to provide foundational knowledge that will be built upon in future sessions.
Identify, Assist, Refer is an online training tool that guides individuals in identifying someone experiencing a mental health challenge, offering assistance, and facilitating help-seeking behaviour. It provides basic skills and information needed to be able to support people experiencing many different types of challenges that impact their mental health (regardless of whether they also live with mental illness). It’s meant to help individuals become better helpers. Through examining multiple examples/scenarios, the structure of the tool considers diverse, inter-sectional identities and the potential effects of identity that can be considered when supporting a peer.
5 Ways to Well-being
5 Ways to Well-being is a workshop developed by Health & Wellness at the University of Toronto. This interactive session explores what it means to feel good and function well as a student. Drawing on recent evidence from the study of well-being, participants will be introduced to a cluster of activities that promote resiliency and prevent burnout so that they can be at their best. This session focuses on the individual’s personal mental wellness, allowing the participant to reflect on how their individual identity may influence how they perceive and support their own mental health.
safeTALK – “Suicide Awareness For Everyone”
safeTALK is a training program that prepares helpers to identify persons with thoughts of suicide and connect them to suicide first aid resources prepares helpers to identify persons with thoughts of suicide and connect them to suicide first aid resources. It teaches how to prevent suicide by recognizing signs, engaging someone, and connecting them to an intervention resource for further support. The workshop emphasizes the importance of recognizing the signs of suicide, communicating with the person at risk and getting help or resources for the person at risk. The workshop will be facilitated by the Dean of Students, Steve Masse. (If you have already completed safeTALK before this session, your safeTALK certificate may be used as proof to complete the Mental Health Skills Certificate.)
Jack Talk – Guest Speaker
The Jack Talk is a presentation on mental health delivered by young adults to young adults. “The speakers share their own mental health story in accordance with Safe Storytelling guidelines which ensure that audiences receive the story in a way that is non-triggering and positive. They also educate audiences about the basics of mental health, including the dual spectrum of mental health on which everyone – without exception – exists. Speakers share lessons on how to recognize signs of struggle in themselves and their peers, and how to be there for those who might be struggling. Most importantly, the talk covers how to connect with resources, so that audiences have actionable next steps they can undertake.”
Mental Health Roadmap
Mental Health Roadmap is a workshop developed by Health & Wellness at the University of Toronto. This workshop supports students in defining and recognizing the precursors of stress and leads participants though a crowd-sourcing activity to build a broad network of personal and formal resources available to help them manage the various stressors experienced within the context of their student experience. Students, staff, and faculty from Innis College are all encouraged to attend (even if not participating in the program) in order to incorporate diverse perspectives and opportunities. Through encouraging the voices of multiple populations the ideal outcome is the sharing of resources that encompass the needs of the College’s diverse community. Following the workshop, participants are provided with a resource map that they can draw upon for managing and mitigating stress.
Capstone Project – Independent creative reflection
Capstone projects are used to reflect, analyze, and evaluate the experience held over a long-term learning experience. In this case, it is up to the individual to creatively present the deeper understandings of mental health and wellness they have gained after experiencing the previous sessions. ‘Creatively’ means in any way that suits the individual, as part of wellness is understanding how we best reflect and change. Some participants may be scholars and prefer to reflect through essays or reports, other may be poets, painters, musicians, and there may be others who may reflect more effectively through movement, writing, speaking etc.
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