OCNews

The following message has been posted on behalf of the Okanagan College Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy Committee.

The Okanagan College Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy development continues to move forward. The goal of this guiding document is to reflect Okanagan College’s commitment to be a health-promoting institution and to prioritize and oversee new and existing initiatives to support student and employee mental health and wellness.

OC's Vice President, Students Meri Kim Oliver is executive sponsor of  this project and notes, “As we return to campus in a more fulsome way in fall 2021 our community members will be experiencing our new reality in innumerable, individual ways. The work to develop a Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy is critical to building a community that is caring, resilient and in which all members can actively support each other. The commitment of so many college employees and students to this work is a wonderful testament to our community’s investment in building as positive and healthy a future as possible.”

In the past few months, an Okanagan College Mental Health and Wellbeing Advisory Committee was formed. Angela Checkley (Manager, Student Services) and Glendon Wiebe (Chair, Counselling Services) have been named as Advisory Committee co-chairs and the committee’s scope is currently focused on development of the strategy document.

To ensure that the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy is a document that supports all members of the Okanagan College community, five sub-committees (comprised of over 35 Okanagan College students and employees from various campus and perspectives) were created in Winter 2021 to review health and wellbeing data from previous consultations as well as some recent Okanagan College stakeholder engagement. These sub-committees each focused on a best-practices informed component of campus mental health and wellness and recently submitted recommendations to be compiled for the first draft of the strategy document. 

As Okanagan College students and employees plan to return to campus in September, the Mental Health and Wellbeing Advisory Committee will be hosting in-person townhall meetings at all campuses early in the semester. A strategy draft will be presented and attendee feedback will be invited. Townhall meeting dates and times (as well as additional ways to provide input) will be shared with the Okanagan College community toward the end of August.

The anticipated completion date for Okanagan College’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy is early 2022. For more information about the Mental Health and Wellbeing Advisory Committee or the strategy development, please email Angela (acheckley@okanagan.bc.ca) or Glendon (gwiebe@okanagan.bc).