Olds College (OC) president Stuart Cullum and Students' Association of Olds College president Cassidy Kirsch are pleased with an announcement by Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt.
Last week, Schmidt announced that for the first time ever, the provincial government is providing direct three-year funding to improve the mental health of OC students: $135,000 each year for three years.
About 55 OC students, staff and officials were on hand for the announcement Sept. 5 in the college's Learning Resource Centre (library).
It's part of a $25.8-million program from 2017 to 2020 to improve mental health for students studying in publicly-funded post-secondary institutions across Alberta.
According to the provincial government, last year, Olds College received $30,000 from an Alberta Students' Executive Council grant to support mental health initiatives.
Schmidt told reporters that the provincial government and the college will hammer out the details of that mental health assistance later.
"We're really pleased. I think what this shows is that the government recognizes that student health and wellness is important for all students in Alberta," Cullum told reporters.
"For Olds College to receive this funding is critically important to supporting the work that we're doing in the college but also most importantly for ensuring student success."
Cullum said more money may be needed to support student mental health. He said Olds College is looking at obtaining that extra money from the private sector.
"Our Beyond campaign, which is our capital campaign, has mental health as one of the pillars in that, and so we are looking at how we can find other dollars from the private sector in order to support what's needed for mental health in the long term," Cullum said.
Cullum said the college has a variety of services available for students to help with their mental health needs ñ including counselling. However, he agreed with Schmidt that the details of how the $135,000 will be best spent still have to be worked out.
"I would say that we're tailoring our programs to the needs of our students and we're also working with our students to understand their needs and the dollars flow accordingly," Cullum said.
"So the government, I think, has been good at responding with this funding, and it's up to the administration and the students to determine how to effectively utilize those resources, and we have a number of programs and approaches to do that."
Kirsch said the money and the assistance it can provide is certainly needed.
"Based on a survey that was done in 2016, one in five students often faces difficulty with mental health. It is super important, because one in five students is such a big handful," she said.
"We're a community college, so we're very close together. We like to keep the bonds between students," she added. "If we're able to talk about it and open up, we're able to solve the issues."
Kirsch noted spaces for students to relax and support each other have just been developed. They're expected to be available within a week or two. She described that as "exciting."
"Having spaces for students, like our boardrooms and study rooms downstairs made just for students so that they can access help when they need or they can just hang out and be together, really adds to their life to be able to take away some of the stress as well," Kirsch said.
