Summit Overview

On April 3 and 4, campus stakeholders from across British Columbia came together to advance collective action in pursuit of campus mental wellness and healthier relationships with substances. 

SUMMIT 2017, Ideas to Action: Strategies for Systemic Change & Measuring Impact, was hosted at the Morris J Wosk Centre for Dialogue in downtown Vancouver, with speakers, social learning activities, and networking events aimed to inspire innovation and action.

Read the Storify summary of tweets shared throughout the Summit.

Program

 Keynote Speaker 

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We were honoured to have Professor Santa J. Ono as a keynote speaker on Tuesday April 4! 

He highlighted UBC’s adoption of the Okanagan Charter and the importance of sustainable, systemic services and supports across the well-being spectrum, and shared his story in full for the first time.

Professor Ono is the 15th President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of British Columbia, a professor of medicine and biology. He is also the Chief Advisor of the British Columbia Innovation Network.
 
Before coming to UBC, Professor Ono was the president of the University of Cincinnati, becoming its first Asian-American president. He has also held appointments at Emory University as the Senior Vice Provost and Deputy to the Provost. He was recently recognized by the American Council on Education for demonstrating leadership and commitment on a national level to the advancement of racial and ethnic minorities in higher education.
 
Inside Higher Education also named him America’s most notable university president in 2015. Professor Ono works tirelessly to enhance the student experience, and is a strong advocate of student health and well-being.

Plenary Dialogue

Over two days participants heard from innovative thought leaders and change-makers who are advancing a vision of mentally healthy campus communities. These plenary sessions identified current challenges, as well as strengths and opportunities, in all aspects of campus culture. 

Concurrent Sessions & Pop-up Market

Summit participants had the opportunity to leverage their experience and expertise by joining interactive sessions co-developed by campus stakeholders from various institutions around emerging areas of policy and practice: healthy relationships with food and substance use; Indigenous perspectives; sexualized violence policy; how teaching practices impact student well-being; the development, implementation, and evaluation of a campus mental health strategy; and using qualitative data to tell your story of change, as well as a “Consultancy Café”. 

During the “Pop-up Market for Systemic Change” participants previewed a variety of promising practices from the Changing the Culture of Substance Use (CCSU) project, with special acknowledgement to the opioid overdose crisis, in the third and final year of the CCSU project funding.

Networking and Social Events

Summit participants were invited to attend an evening film screening of Burnt Pages, an intimate portrayal of local youth living with mental illness. The Q&A that followed illustrated the complexities of mental illness in post-secondary and made a compelling argument for immediate improvements to our system of care.

 

 >> 2017 Summit Program <<        >> Summit Snapshot Report <<

 

2017 Summit Program      Snapshot Report

 

Acknowledgements

Thank you to the passionate and dedicated 2017 Summit planning committee, and ongoing support from the BC Post-Secondary Counsellors’ Association and The Rossy Family Foundation.

Registration

This dynamic event was attended by 194 students, teachers and faculty, administrators, counsellors, stakeholders, government partners, and community members from across Canada. And, for the first time, members of the K-12 community were invited to help bridge the gaps in mental health and substance use services and support. By the numbers:

  • 194 participants
  • 20 BC public post-secondary institutions
  • 19 community and government organizations
  • 8 school districts, Boards, and K-12 stakeholders
  • 28 sessions

Presentations

Sexual violence policy, prevention, and response on campus

Healthy relationships with food and substances

The development, implementation, and evaluation of a mental health strategy

Gathering data on how teaching practices impact student well being

Using qualitative data to tell your story of change

Promoting health with campus substance use policy

Measuring impact

Testimonials

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