Date and Instance of Approval:
January 15, 2025
Administration Committee
Responsible Service: Office of the Associate Vice-President, Student Affairs
PURPOSE
1. This Policy aims to set out the University of Ottawa’s guiding principles and commitments in terms of student mental health and to provide information about the student mental health programs, services and supports.
APPLICATION
2. This Policy applies to University students.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
3. A caring and compassionate University community
Recognizing the shared responsibility among members of its community to advance a caring, compassionate and inclusive community, the University is committed to creating and maintaining an environment that nurtures inclusive and diverse approaches to wellness. The University embeds care, compassion and wellness at all levels of the University.
4. A “whole of community” approach
The University mobilizes its community to care about student mental health and to implement its student mental health and wellness endeavours. The University recognizes the importance of sustainable, natural, built and social environments in nurturing student mental health and wellness.
5. Collaboration
Building on the expertise of its community, the University builds and maintains partnerships and collaborations with internal and external stakeholders to improve student access to care.
6. Accountability, evaluation and improvement
The University’s actions and decisions are informed by research evidence, best practices in student mental health and wellness, the voices of its community, changing environments and emerging needs. The University recognizes the need for surveys of uOttawa student mental health and well-being and for evaluations of programs, services and initiatives.
PROGRAMS, SERVICES AND SUPPORTS
7. The University provides a diverse range of mental health programs, services and supports to students, including preventative initiatives that focus on promoting mental health and that provide timely and effective interventions. Information about these programs, services and supports is available on the University’s Student Health and Wellness Centre website https://www.uottawa.ca/campus-life/health-wellness.
8. The University serves its students by promoting mental health and attending to their mental health needs through its Student Health and Wellness Centre, and uses other means to promote and inform students about student mental health programs, services and supports available on campus and in the community.
9. The University is committed to evaluating the effectiveness of its student mental health programs, services and supports through student feedback and surveys to ensure continuous improvement and responsiveness to student mental health needs.
CONFIDENTIALITY AND PRIVACY
10. The University is committed to protecting the privacy rights of students and to treating student personal information and student personal health information in accordance with applicable laws governing access to information and privacy protection, University Policy 90 – Access to Information and Protection of Privacy, and all procedures adopted pursuant to it.
11. Students will be informed about confidentiality policies in place for mental health services, including the limits of confidentiality, when applicable, and the circumstances under which information may be shared.
12. The University posts a public notice on its website that addresses the privacy of personal health information of students using the University’s Student Health and Wellness Centre and explains how and when student personal health information is collected, used and disclosed, who is authorized to access it, how the student can access their own personal health information records, and how to request corrections to such records.
APPROVAL AND AMENDMENTS
13. The Provost and Vice-President, Academic Affairs is responsible for ensuring that this Policy is reviewed at least once every five years and for recommending to the Administration Committee any amendments to it.
14. Amendments to this Policy require the approval of the Administration Committee.
15. The Provost and Vice-President, Academic Affairs may establish, amend or abrogate procedures in order to effectively implement this Policy, provided that such procedures are consistent with the provisions of this Policy.
16. Notwithstanding section 15, the Secretary-General may amend this Policy without the need to submit such amendment to the Administration Committee for approval if such amendment is required to:
a) update or correct the name or title of a position, unit, law, bylaw, policy, procedure or authority; or
b) correct punctuation, grammar, typographical errors, revisions to format and other technical revisions, where appropriate, if the correction does not change the meaning of a provision, or make such other correction if it is clear both that an error has been made and what the correction should be; or
c) correct the form of expression of a provision in French or in English to be more compatible with its form of expression in the other language; or
d) make consequential amendments to conform with or arising from another University bylaw, resolution, policy or procedure.