A Vancouver Island college is supporting students’ mental health through events taking place in October.
Thrive, an initiative started by UBC, is taking place at North Island College campuses across the Island. The event, first launched in February 2020, has grown from one week to a full month of activities twice a year in October and February, according to a press release from NIC.
Events are taking place online and in-person with guidelines from the Provincial Health Officer, according to the college.
NIC director of student affairs Felicity Blaiklock says the goal is to bring students together and encourage physical and mental health.
“The goal of Thrive is to bring students, faculty and staff together to do something fun, healthy and encourage positive physical and mental health,” said Blaiklock.
“We wanted to celebrate our return to campus and create space for people to get together, meet each other and make connections, both in-person and virtually.”
NIC also says Thrive Month is an opportunity to raise awareness about mental health services and supports, and how students can self-support, support each other and learn where to go when they need help.
The college’s Early Assist referral program expanded this fall to allow students to self-refer to the program, according to the release.
Blaiklock says they want to make it easy for students to reach out and get help.
“Mental health challenges can sometimes be like the proverbial frog in boiling water – you don’t know you’re in trouble until it gets bad,” said Blaiklock.
“By engaging in conversation and normalizing talking about mental health, we hope students are able to recognize when things are not okay and reach out for help.”
A full list of Thrive Events can be found at http://www.nic.bc.ca/thrive.
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