Following the global pandemic that has put the world on a halt for almost two years, mental health has been in conversation more than ever before in post-secondary spaces. Earlier in the year, the Ontario government provided $7 million to help increase access to mental health and addiction services for post-secondary students during COVID-19 — on top of the $19.25 million investment in mental health supports for publicly-assisted colleges and universities previously rolled out at the beginning of 2021.
Although the stigma around mental illness and accessing support still acts as a barrier in reaching out for help, 70 per cent of Canadians believe attitudes about mental health issues have changed for the better compared to five years ago, and a survey in select midwestern U.S. communities portrays that there has been a decrease in stigma and negative assumptions around mental illnesses.
While post-secondary institutions encourage students to take advantage of the mental health support offered, students believe barriers still exist. The stumbling block to receiving adequate mental health support very much stands and inaccessible care proves to be a problem among post-secondary students.
I talked to two students attending the University of Toronto about the barriers they’ve faced with receiving mental health services in their school. One of the biggest issues brought up is a common one: long wait times to access therapy or counselling. In Ontario, wait times ranging from six months to a year is common, especially when it comes to youth and children.
Third-year health and science major Narges Hassan has experienced her fair share of inaccessible mental health services throughout her time at the University of Toronto Scarborough. Hassan decided to reach out for help at the Health and Wellness Centre on her campus when she began experiencing anxiety attacks in her second-year. After dealing with feelings of anxiety her entire life, Hassan came to the mental health support provided to her at university in hopes that it would be a more accessible option.
However, after scoping out help on campus in her second year, she found that most time slots were always booked up and that she couldn’t see the same therapist multiple times. The added labour of explaining her situation to a new therapist every time was overwhelming.
“It’s really uncomfortable for a person that is dealing with a lot of stress and anxiety because you don’t want to repeat your anxiety and trigger yourself over and over again, right?” says Hassan. “Imagine going to two therapists at the same clinic and you have to start from the beginning and then go over everything that happened again.”
Before COVID, Hassan would go to the Health and Wellness Centre on campus when experiencing heightened levels of anxiety, only to be asked to sit with a nurse when no therapists were available to help. She shared her confusion over the fact that they used to offer walk-in services pre-COVID, but that service wasn’t accessible to her anymore.
BIPOC students are often faced with added barriers when it comes to mental health support. Hassan shares that her identity as a Muslim South Asian came into play when receiving mental health support — she says her school had a shortage of BIPOC therapists, which made it difficult for BIPOC students to comfortably reach out for help.
On top of mental health stressors, BIPOC students face racial stressors specific to a marginalized or oppressed group, and finding a therapist or counsellor who will understand that is crucial to some students.
A second-year student at the University of Toronto Mississauga, who asked to remain anonymous, shared with me that she had recently reached out for on-campus mental health support for the first time — and found herself questioning whether the staff at the Health and Counselling Centre would be able to help her due to the lack of diversity.
“My cultural background doesn’t align with theirs, which is okay, in a sense. But then if I reach out to them, they won’t be able to understand my experiences to the degree that someone from my own culture would, you know what I mean?” the student says.
On one occasion, the second-year had called the Health and Counselling Centre after finding the website lacking in service details and was sent straight to voicemail. She has yet to receive a call back at the time of publication.
“They’re like, ‘oh, we have really good services and you can always reach out, we’re just a call away.’ But you know, they’re not,” the student says. She also comments that although the services exist and are marketed to students well, it comes down to the lack of follow-through.
Both students said that although the stigma around reaching out to mental health support may have lessened — which does make it easier for students to reach out for help — the inaccessible services are disheartening and is ultimately why students find it difficult to receive adequate care.
At the end of the day, breaking down the stigma around mental illness and reaching out to mental health support is just as important as those support systems actually being accessible. And the labour shouldn’t be on the person needing help to fight for those support systems to be adequate.