Customize your care: Explore UM’s self-help and group support options
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to mental health care. Although directly connecting with a mental health professional on a one-on-one basis is helpful, it isn’t your only option.
There are many self-directed and group mental health resources available for students, accessible within the UM community and beyond. These include workshops, peer-support groups, self-guided programs, as well as online toolkits – all of which cover a variety of topics related to mental health.
- Consider attending workshops and groups being offered by the Student Counselling Centre (SCC). These sessions help participants develop empirically validated skills to manage stress and distress, depression and anxiety, trauma, grief and loss, and more. Groups and workshops provide an environment where students can feel comfortable among others who are developing the same techniques and feel empowered in doing so. For many needs, workshops and groups have proven to be more effective than individual counselling.
- The Indigenous Student Centre hosts weekly virtual sharing circles, providing safe spaces for participants to learn from each other’s experiences. View the full schedule to access other sharing circles scheduled for the upcoming weeks.
- We understand that busy schedules and time constraints can make accessing certain services difficult for students, but that doesn’t mean that you need to compromise mental wellness. The RBC MOOD (Manitoba Online Overcoming Depression) Program is an online counselling service that helps UM students with low to moderate symptoms of depression. By working through a series of self-guided treatment modules in your own time, then receiving guidance and feedback from a SCC counsellor, you can work at your own pace.
- Wellness Together Canada also offers online modules to help Canadians access self-guided resources for mental health support. The resource selector narrows down the ones best suited for you.
- Healthy U, a student group consisting of trained health educators, also provide health packages related to different aspects of wellness that you can access at any time.
- Mental health and wellness apps can also help with skills related to specific conditions, mindfulness and relaxation.
- Shared Health has prepared a list of recommendations for self-help resources including websites, online programs and guidebooks, and other apps.
These examples aren’t your only options, but they’re a great place to start. Exploring your options is key to finding the combination of resources and services that will work for you. Your story is unique, and you deserve to receive the care that fits best with your self-defined goals for wellness.