On March 11th and 12th, 2016 campus stakeholders from across British Columbia came together to advance collective action on campus mental health and substance use.
Summit 2016, “Cultivating a Campus Culture of Well-being with Intention: Aligning Policies, Practices and Core Mission” took place at the Morris J Wosk Centre for Dialogue in downtown Vancouver at 580 W Hastings Street. This venue was created to facilitate dialogue and enhance interaction, with the main plenary hall a “UN-style” circular set-up. This old bank building has been turned into a unique meeting space with stunning architecture, natural light and state-of-the-art technology. This venue provided a space to stimulate meaningful discussion and share ideas.
View a Storify summary of the tweets shared throughout the Summit here.
Pre-Summit workshops took place on Thursday, March 10, from 1:00pm – 5pm at The Metropolitan Hotel. Two workshops ran concurrently, including: “Implementing the National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace: Applying a Whole Campus Approach for All” and “Evaluation of Settings and Whole Systems Approaches.” The first workshop concretely explored the National Standard and the 13 factors specifically within the unique context of post-secondary institutions. The second workshop engaged participants in addressing the question – how do you know that your campus initiatives are making a difference?
During plenary sessions, participants heard from innovative thought leaders and change makers who are advancing a vision of mentally healthy campus communities. Plenary sessions identified current challenges and practical solutions through panel discussions with senior administrators and student leaders, as well as action-oriented keynote speakers. Dialogue focused on cultivating a culture of campus mental health and well-being, Indigenous perspectives, and mapping post-secondary policies.
Participants strategized how to mobilize the Okanagan Charter: An International Charter for Health Promoting Universities and Colleges. They reflected on how BC can respond to the call to action for universities, colleges and institutes to infuse well-being into everyday operations, business practices and academic mandates and by doing so, enhance the success of our institutions and provide transformative educational environments that enable all stakeholders on campus to become engaged citizens and leaders.
In addition to meaningful dialogue and co-creation together, participants took part in “Deep Dive Working Sessions” and had the opportunity for knowledge exchange at the “Pop-Up Market for Innovations.” The purpose of the working sessions was to leverage skills from across the province to enhance collective capacity.
The Deep Dive Working Sessions were held on topics such as developing campus mental health and well-being strategies, applying a “mental health and well-being lens” to post-secondary policies, learning environments, sexual violence prevention, alcohol policies and more!
Additional concurrent sessions focused on solution seeking and sharing among peers, where participants divided into their “peer groups” and use open space methodology to learn, explore and plan together.
During the “Pop up Market for Innovations,” delegates had the opportunity to learn about a variety of promising practices across the continuum — from crisis response and services to supportive environments — and heard from other stakeholders what has worked well on their campus.
View the Pop up Market for Innovations map here. View the Summit Program >>>
Summit participants were invited to participate in a variety of networking activities, including an evening reception, morning yoga session and more.
Special thank you to our multi-stakeholder Summit 2016 Planning Committee, which includes professional and student representatives from campuses across the province, as well as the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Advanced Education.
We are also grateful for the additional financial support provided by the Rossy Family Foundation.
We were thrilled that representatives from every public post-secondary institutions in BC attended the Summit, in addition to representatives from other institutions across the province, government partners and community organizations. For full details on how the registration process worked for 2016, click here >>> .
Summit participants were invited to stay at The Metropolitan Hotel. This unique boutique-style hotel is located in the heart of downtown Vancouver at 645 Howe Street, was only a 7 minute walk from the Summit venue.
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Healthy Minds | Healthy Campuses is managed and coordinated on behalf of the BC Partners for Mental Health and Addictions Information by CMHA BC
Core funding for the initiative is provided by BC Mental Health and Substance
Use Services with additional support from the BC Ministry of Health
