Back to School

Recent newspaper articles and electronic media stories have drawn attention to the relationship between going to university or college and mental health problems and mental disorders. In both the USA and Canada this has been headline news.

It is really difficult to tell if the rates of mental health problems are going up or not but it is true that between the early 1990’s and early 2000’s, suicide rates have fallen. This has been closely associated with better identification and treatment of young people with mental disorders.

Certainly there is a clear need for universities, colleges and other institutions of higher learning to actively promote mental health literacy and provide contextualized information known to enhance knowledge and help seeking behavior for their students. Across Canada, over 30 institutions of higher learning have done so – using the “Transitions” program developed by our group. 

What is confusing to me is why so many have chosen not to do so, or have tried to reinvent the wheel by developing one-offs of undemonstrated value but with local small “p” political appeal. In my opinion this once again illustrates why it would be a good idea to have a single point national clearing house for mental health programs. But not just any kind of clearing house – one that only includes programs for which there is substantive evidence of effectiveness and cost effectiveness. Both are needed. And, this is not a “best practice” list of programs. I for one would like to see the whole idea of “best practice” scrapped and replaced by the framework of “best evidence”. I have seen to many “best practices” unable to demonstrate substantive value while at the same time costing us dearly in both implementation and opportunity lost.

This could surely be a role of the Public Health Agency of Canada. But it will take a bit of reforming to ensure it is responsibly carried out.

--Stan