The university is seeking perspectives from students, staff and faculty in the development of a new mental health and well-being strategy.  

Well-being is one of the core values that was emphasized in the university’s new strategic plan Momentum: Leading Change Together 2024-29. 

According to the plan, the university stated that “we advance the personal and professional growth and academic success of our community members. Grounded in respect and compassion for each other and our community, we cultivate a supportive environment that embraces the values of mino-pimatisiwin (good life) and mino-ayawin (good health).” 

To promote this priority, the university has established a mental health and well-being task force that will build upon the initiative of the previous mental health and well-being initiative to develop a comprehensive strategy that reflects the community’s current challenges.

The task force would be working in four working groups, consisting of one for baseline data, literature review, environmental scan and one for community consultations.

The baseline data committee is responsible for analyzing what data needs to be collected in terms of mental health and well-being within the university.

The literature review working group is responsible for finding the best practices to promote mental health and well-being within post-secondary institutions by reviewing current literature and promising practices.

The environmental scan working group will assess what the university is doing at the unit level and centrally to promote mental health and well-being.

Arlana Vadnais, chair of the environmental scan working group stated that “we’ve sent questionnaires to all of the units on campus to ask what they’re currently doing to support mental health and well-being on campus. That includes everything from policies to informal practices to resources that are available to the way that people manage their staff and how we support students.” 

She continued, “we are gathering all that information and we’ll be analyzing that in the next couple of months.”

Lastly, the community consultations working group is responsible for consulting with the community to find out what students, staff and faculty are experiencing in terms of mental health and well-being on campus. This entails things that are being done properly and what can be done differently to support the community’s mental health and well-being. 

To share your thoughts on advancing the mental health and well-being status on campus, a feedback form can be filled out at umanitoba.ca/wellness-and-mental-health. For inquiries regarding mental health on campus, contact mental.health@umanitoba.ca.