Mental Health Skills Certificate

The Innis College Office of Student Life invites the Innis community to take part in the Mental Health Skills Workshop Series. This program 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.

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.

Students who attend the entire series will receive recognition on their Co-Curricular Record.

This year, the Mental Health Skills Certificate will be hosted during the Fall Reading Week. Sessions will run from Monday, November 9th to Wednesday, November 11th, 2020.

The deadline to register is November 4th at 5pm EST.

MHSC Introduction – (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. In this session, we will create community guidelines and walk through the certificate program.

Health and Wellness at Innis – (Panel)

You will be introduced to some of the wellness supports available at Innis College. You will have an opportunity to connect with Tracey (our Health and Wellness Counsellor), Steve (Dean of Students), and Madi (Assistant Dean, Student Life). They will each highlight how they interact and support students at Innis. They will also touch on a number of important health and wellness programs and opportunities that are available to all U of T students.

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.

LivingWorks START

LivingWorks START is a suicide awareness, interactive, evidence-based e-learning program that can be taken remotely and completely online. It focuses on awareness of suicide prevention, teaches fundamental skills and will enable participants to recognize someone’s thoughts of suicide and take action to ensure they receive the help they require. It takes about 90 minutes to complete where learners can increase their skills and knowledge at a comfortable pace while balancing their personal safety with challenging content. The program includes simulations, narrated coaching, practice scenarios, including skills to offer support remotely and provides ongoing access to resources and suicide prevention agencies. START is CCR validated and all learners will receive a Certificate of Completion.

Be Good to Yourself, Whoever You Are with Ronna Bloom

Often in school and in life, energy moves quickly towards projects and other people but there’s little left for your own restoration. In this workshop, through the use of poems and prompts, you will be nudged into writing and reflecting about what sustains you, what you love and what you need. Take this time for yourself, as a flicker of possibility of how you might take time for yourself in general. No experience necessary.

Ronna Bloom is a poet and teacher. Her most recent book, The More (Pedlar Press, 2017) was longlisted for the City of Toronto Book Award. Her poems have been recorded by the CNIB, are featured on Toronto Public Library’s interactive Poetry Map, and have been translated into Spanish, Bangla, and Chinese. Ronna created the Poet in Residence program at Sinai Health and is currently Poet in Community to the University of Toronto. www.ronnabloom.com

References:

https://iar.utoronto.ca/main/education-module
https://www.livingworks.net/safetalk