Olds College Receives Grant from Bell Let’s Talk Post-Secondary Fund

April 15, 2021, Olds, Alberta: Olds College is one of 123 post-secondary institutions across Canada to receive a $25,000 Kickoff Grant from the Bell Let’s Talk Post-Secondary Fund. 

"The mental health and well being of our entire campus community is very important to Olds College,” says Sandra Griffin, Manager of Health and Wellness at Olds College. “The challenges (and opportunities) presented over the past year have enabled us to identify target areas that will help to improve mental health outcomes and overall academic success.” 

With the onset of COVID-19 in March 2020 and the pivot to online delivery of curriculum and programs, also came the need for an online delivery of Health and Wellness services. Olds College will utilize the Bell Let's Talk Post-Secondary grant by creating a digital health platform for mental health programs. This grant will enhance the current online campus health and wellness resources for Olds College students, staff, alumni and the community. 

“We are very excited to receive this grant from Bell Let's Talk to implement a digital mental health platform for mental health supports and programming,” Griffin expresses. “This will enable us to reach more students, deliver more effective support and will help our campus community in terms of their overall mental health, wellness and academic success."

The digital health platform for mental health programming will provide on-demand virtual mental health support services at Olds College. This initiative will help increase access to student supports, on and off campus, provide a healthier and safer institutional environment and improve opportunities for student success and flourishing.

The Bell Let’s Talk Post-Secondary Fund aims to support post-secondary institutions ensuring that the health and wellness activities align with the National Standard of Canada for Mental and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students. Bell Let’s Talk helped create the Standard which provides guidelines for post-secondary student mental health. The Standard aims to help increase awareness, reduce stigma and create a healthier and safer educational environment for students across Canada. The Standard is led by the Mental Health Commision of Canada in partnership with the Canadian Standards Association.