Project aims to make mental healthcare accessible to students
Posted Nov 28, 2016 06:08:27 AM.
Last Updated Nov 28, 2016 06:09:45 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
HALIFAX – Pathway through Mental Health care is looking to create a model for mental health treatment for university students.
The effort, headed by Dr. Stan Kutcher and sponsored by the Medavie Health Foundation is being tested by five maritime schools.
Those schools include Halifax’s Mount Saint Vincent University, Saint Mary’s University and the Nova Scotia Community College.
“We know that rapid access to effective treatment is really good and makes a tremendous difference,” said Kutcher. “So we have to be able to identify those young people who have a mental disorder and quickly get them to evidence-based treatment.”
The effort has four main components, which include finding out about mental health and improving mental health literacy.
Kutcher said 70 per cent of mental disorders are diagnosed before the age of 25.
“What we are looking forward to is applying the most rigorous scientific research to actually being able to demonstrate whether or not what we are doing is making the impact that we want it to make.”
Pathways through Mental Health Care launched at Saint Mary’s on Nov. 24.
