Why are our students killing themselves?
The University of Waterloo has confirmed another suicide on campus, and it raises some questions as to how the University as a whole is tackling the issue of mental health.
Sadly, another Waterloo student took their life. Another person who had the opportunity to change the world, and more importantly, change themselves. Another student who unfortunately chose a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
As the buzz on the issue of mental health in Waterloo crescendos, and with it comes promises of change, group counselling sessions, and reddit posts. Even as a first-year undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo, it becomes hard not to be jaded, as the tragic losses of students today become only distant memories.
Waterloo ironically has been an oxymoron for these past couple years. A technological driving force, with new ideas fostering every day and thousands of the most forward-thinking students in the country. Sadly this school may have the initiative when it comes to fostering technological advancement, it turns a blind eye to what cannot be as easily seen. This raises a myriad of questions from various parties as to what is being done to help our students when times get tough. Most importantly, and what I believe is the most pressing question these days is:
Why are our students killing themselves?
Like most problems, this one exists as a tragic miscoordination of the solution to a multi-faceted problem. With a student population that is more prone to mental health issues, and problems in what is being done for the students, UW encounters an unhealthy reputation for having the most depressed students out of anywhere in Canada
Waterloo prides itself as a school which offers a high-class education, and demands high-class students, with many of these students pursuing STEM degrees. However, in a field where competition boils and stress runs amok, there seems to be a lack of support for these students. In a school where 58% of students have an entrance average of over 90%¹, and forfeit their summers² starting year 1, it surprises me that the support simply does not exist to these students. For example, the average endowment³ per student hovers abysmally low, at $10,717, versus Western’s $17,712 and University of Toronto’s $26,812.
To compound the problem of a lack of monetary resources to support its students, there comes the inability to effectively utilize or implement any mental health initiatives.
During a PAC-SMH (the President’s Advisory Committee on Student Mental Health) meeting⁴, Dr. Ruttan actively invalidated a student’s suggestions about having counsellors specifically at UWP, which happens to be where our most recent student took their own life. These suggestions were well warranted, and alas were swept under the rug. If it seems frustrating for a student to voice concerns in a constructive debate to the Director of Counselling Services, I cannot imagine the trials that students with mental health may face in seeking help.
Lastly, we have a thinning workforce designed to tackle student mental health issues. In May 2017, the third psychologist in two months from the University of Waterloo Counselling Services has quit. This is characteristic of a larger problem and a sign of a growing population of students who need help. Likewise this trend is indicative of a vacancy in a support system that is already underfunded, and now underemployed.
In a school where students are pushed to produce, innovate and pave their path for success, the University of Waterloo continues to fail to serve the eventual mental health issues of its students. As another student takes their own life, a small hum fills the student body demanding change, and it is only with activism and awareness that this hum grows louder and louder, and at the climax of this crescendo will change actually happen.
UW Mates Peer Support: mates@uwaterloo.ca
Here 24/7: 1–844–437–3247
Mental Health Training Opportunities: https://uwaterloo.ca/campus-wellness/counselling-services/mental-health-training-opportunities
¹https://uwaterloo.ca/about/who-we-are/waterloo-facts
²https://uwaterloo.ca/engineering/future-undergraduate-students/co-op-experience/co-op-studywork-sequences
³https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_universities_by_endowment
⁴https://livestream.com/UWFeds/events/7859377 (1:33:43)
⁵http://uwimprint.ca/article/third-psychologist-quits-from-counselling-services/
