Mental Health & Wellness Strategy

UCalgary Nursing Mental Health & Wellness Strategy

Flourishing together in a caring community

Our faculty is the first unit at UCalgary to launch a three year initiative that embedded the Campus Mental Health Strategy into our strategic plan pillar of wellness for work and study.

Delve into the goals and objectives of our three-year plan: 

Our Projects

Wellness Dog

Wellness Dog (cancelled)

The Faculty of Nursing’s wellness dog project explored an innovative, evidence-informed project in partnership with the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. The program was intended to provide dedicated wellness support for the Faculty of Nursing community and complement UCalgary Nursing's Mental Health & Wellness Initiative. Protocol manuscript for this project is currently in process.

Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)

Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)

Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) is a 2-day program that is offered by the Centre for Suicide Prevention. Funding received from Student Union- Quality Money Grant, Campus Mental Health Strategy & Centre for Suicide Prevention for a 2-year ASIST with faculty, staff and students.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR)

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR)

Four Faculty of Nursing instructors and two Medicine Hat College instructors were trained in mindfulness through Derek Luk (founder of Mimentra). This training provided a foundation for various mindfulness practices and instructors were taught mechanisms of action in addressing anxiety and stress reactivity. Following the Faculty of Nursing Mindfulness Training, instructors Julia Imanoff and Justin Burkett are continuing to lead mindfulness sessions across the campus.

Overview of strategy 2019-2022

2019 - 2020

Needs assessment and Logic Model development

Our Goal: Measure Faculty of Nursing needs, hopes/wishes for initiative

Gather existing and new information within the Faculty of Nursing community (UCalgary and Medicine Hat College) to inform mental health and wellness strategy including needs, desired outcomes, and intervention planning.

2020 - 2021

Intervention planning based on Year 1 needs assessment

Our Goal: Measure psychological wellness of community using Guarding Minds tool

Based on interventions identified in Year 1, develop, implement, and evaluate evidence-informed mental health and wellness strategies to support the mental health and well-being of all Faculty of Nursing community members.

Conduct a quantitative measure of psychological wellness of staff, faculty and students using the Guarding Minds tool.

2021 - 2022

Evaluation of interventions

Our Goal: Create a sustainability plan and culture shift

Evaluate influence of UCalgary Nursing Mental Health and Wellness Initiative, the work of the Faculty of Nursing Indigenous Initiatives, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion on shifting perceptions on topics that influence mental health and wellness. 

There will be qualitative focus groups with members of the nursing community to review the results of Phase 1 and 2 surveys, to identify gaps and collect recommendations to inform intervention planning. 

Major Milestones