There is a website created to help Durham College students find mental health resources in their community.
Durham has been added to the list of schools included on the icopeu.com mental health portal.
Icopeu.com is a service the mental health organization, Mindyourmind operates says Andrea Kirkham, curriculum writer at Mindyourmind.
The service was created for students, by students, according to Kirkham.
“Icopeu came out of the need of people transitioning into post-secondary,” she says.
According to Kirkham, a lot of students come from out of town, and don’t know where they can find support. This portal will assist in the locations of mental health services on and around campus.
“When a school is interested, we work with the schools to customize the icopeu portals for that campus, because the idea is that each school is unique,” says Kirkham.
Mindyourmind works in partnership with the colleges to make sure everyone has access to everything they need, Kirkham says.
“We know that a lot of schools are doing good work to provide resources,” says Kirkham. “But students may not know how to access stuff, or want other information on how to prevent mental health issues from happening.”
The site contains a drop-down link called coping tools. In the menu, are six different tools.
These tools include a coping kit which is set up like a journal to help you create your own crisis plan. Information about helping family members and loving yourself are among the other links.
According to Kirkham, the subject information changes. Right now students will be able to find information on eating disorders, but in two to three weeks it will be different. The final link brings students to mindyourmind.ca, which can be used to access all other information not available on icopeu.com
The final link is called Reach out, which is a game set up like Jeopardy, and teaches you about mental health.
A section of the game is customized to the campus students are at, Kirkham says, and includes music from Marianas Trench.
Josh Ramsay, lead singer of Marianas Trench, has struggled with mental health issues, so they wanted to support the program even further, she adds.
Fanshawe College helped pilot the project in 2010 by being the first school to use the portal, Kirkham says.
A Durham College mental health nurse provided information regarding health, academics, and housing to mindyourmind, she says.
The portal will be continuously updated and always have current information, says Kirkham.
