Resource Collection

The campus community of any post-secondary institution plays an important role in supporting the mental health and well-being of its students. The HealthyMindsNS Committee, with representation from Nova Scotia’s post-secondary institutions and student groups, has identified the following resources for campus community members who would like to strengthen their understanding of mental health and their skills to support student well-being.

Resources are provided in various modalities, are inclusive of marginalized groups and, where available, include bilingual or multilingual materials. Resources are reviewed annually and revised as needed.

Students Faculty General Specialized

Student Resources

Mental health and well-being supports and resources specifically for students/youth, and resources for supporting a friend or peer.

  • Jack.org – is a resource hub for young people to better understand mental health and to learn to take care of their own mental health.

  • BeThere – includes tools to help students recognize when someone is struggling, safely support them, and maintain their own mental health.

  • Mind your Mind – is a multilingual space where mental health, wellness, engagement and technology meet. Mind your Mind works with young people aged 14 to 29 to co-create interactive tools and innovative resources to build capacity and resilience. The site has various resources on how to help a friend available here including ‘Helping a Friend’ video.

  • It Gets Better Canada envisions a world where all 2SLGBTQ+ youth are free to live equally and know their worthiness and power as individuals. Its mission is to uplift, empower, and connect 2SLGBTQ+ youth across Canada.

Faculty Resources

Resources for faculty and staff to support students and to recognize and respond to students in distress

Toolkits, Training and Guides

  • HealthyMindsNS Guide to Recognizing and Responding to Students in Distress – a one-page quick reference guide, adapted, with thanks, from resources developed by Dalhousie University, Mount Saint Vincent University and the Nova Scotia Community College.

  • Thriving in the Classroom – a toolkit designed by the Centre for Innovation in Campus Mental Health to support post secondary educators in promoting student wellbeing and resilience in the virtual, or in-person classroom.

  • Mental Health and the Learning Environment – designed by the Centre for Innovation in Campus Mental Health, this toolkit can help faculty and teaching staff take steps within the classroom to support student mental health.

  • Graduate Student Mental Health Toolkit – this guide designed by the Centre for Innovation in Campus Mental Health targets student leaders, frontline staff, faculty members, graduate student supervisors and program leaders who directly interact with students and aims to offer guidance on how to support graduate students from all walks of life, whether in need of mental health and addictions support or not.

  • Capacity to Connect: Supporting Students’ Mental Health and Wellness – this adaptable training resource published by BC Campus covers foundational mental health and wellness knowledge for post-secondary faculty and staff and ways to support students in distress. It can be used for online or in-person training, or for self-study.

Videos, Podcasts and Webinars

  • Mental Health 101 Videos – a resource for the post-secondary community in Nova Scotia to better recognize and respond to students in distress. Mental Health 101 originates from the Stay Connected Mental Health Project, a practice and culture-shifting collaboration among five Halifax universities, and Nova Scotia Health and the IWK, to support emerging adults with mental health needs.

  • More Feet on the Ground – this online resource and video library developed by the Council of Ontario Universities, Brock University, and the Centre for Innovation in Campus Mental Health, is intended to help faculty, administration and campus staff understand more about mental health and to be able to recognize, respond and refer students experiencing mental health issues on campus.

  • Supporting the Mental Health of Students of Colour & Indigenous Students – a one-hour webinar from the Best Practices Network, University of Saskatchewan (May 2022).  Explore ways to provide mental wellbeing support using methods and messaging that resonate with international, Indigenous, and historically marginalized students.

  • Leaning Into Art: Indigenized Art Therapy  – a podcast from February 2022 in which Leanna Marshal, an Indigenous Counsellor at Confederation College, discusses Indigenized art therapy, its efficacy in virtual post-secondary settings and the differences between Indigenized art therapy and other forms of art therapy.

  • Helping Students in Distress – created through Ontario’s Universities Accessible Campus, a short video resource to help educators better understand mental health challenges on campus.

General Mental Health Resources

  • Nova Scotia Health, Mental Health and Addictions – a simple, friendly place to turn for help about mental health and addiction services in Nova Scotia. The Nova Scotia Health Mental Health and Addictions website has information, links to both in-person and e-mental health services/resources, and contact information for various sites/facilities offering mental health and addictions services, including services offered by community partners.

  • Mental Health 101 – a series of free online tutorials developed by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health to learn about mental health.

  • The National Institute of Mental Health (USA) works to prevent disease and to improve health. Your Healthiest Self Wellness Toolkits provide tips on emotional well-being, relationships and health in a concise and user-friendly way.  Fact sheets about common mental health issues are also available.

Specialized Mental Health Resources and Tools

Anxiety

  • Anxiety Canada provides a collection of information and resources, including how to create an anxiety plan, an ambassador blog, and video library.

  • Mindshift CBT is an iPhone and Android App to help people learn how to relax, develop more helpful ways of thinking, and identify active steps to take charge of their anxiety.

Depression

  • DepressionHurts is an online resource hub, hosted by The Mood Disorders Society of Canada, providing a range of educational and support opportunities to understand more about depression, what you can do to manage depression and a discussion forum.

  • Heads Up Guys is an online, anonymous resource specifically designed for men, and their families, to prevent the continued erosion of men’s mental health and deaths by suicide.

Sleep

  • Sleep Time is a sleep cycle alarm clock that uses your phone features and an algorithm to determine your phase of sleep, and includes detailed sleep analysis and sleep cycle breakdowns.

Alcohol

  • The Postsecondary Education Partnership on Alcohol Harms (PEP-AH) is committed to understanding student drinking culture and developing best-practice and evidence-based approaches to reduce alcohol harms. Resources include high-level health promotion frameworks to address high-risk drinking and alcohol harms on campus as well as student-focused practical tools to assess drinking and to reduce heavy episodic drinking.

Cannabis

Suicide Prevention