Gaya Arasaratnam, director of Campus Wellness and Support Services at Concordia.
“We are delighted to hear that Bell has selected Concordia as one of the recipients of its grants,” says Gaya Arasaratnam, director of Campus Wellness and Support Services at Concordia. “The funds will help start important conversations about mental health and how we can adopt the best practices outlined in the national standard.”
In order to implement the standard, a university must first fully understand its own unique mental health situation.
Enter Andrew Ryder, associate professor in the Department of Psychology and head of the Culture, Health and Personality Lab. He will conduct a large study of mental health at Concordia to get a comprehensive picture of the situation across all student groups. Bell’s $25,000 in support will help cover the costs of Ryder’s study.
Over the past decade, Bell has come to be known as a champion of mental health. Its Let’s Talk Initiative, inaugurated in 2011, has already generated more than $120 million in donations to mental health programs across Canada.
