Student Mental Health Evaluation
The University of Toronto is re-imagining student mental health services to ensure students have equitable access to high quality, evidence-based services that are continually improved through regular data collection.
Since 2020, the University of Toronto has prioritized student mental health through an intentional strategy to improve access to services customized to the post-secondary environment. This work is guided by the recommendations of the Presidential and Provostial Task Force Report on Student Mental Health. To lead and support this work, in 2022, the OVPS Student Mental Health Tri-Campus Team was established, under the leadership of Chris Bartha, Senior Executive Director, Student Mental Health. To date, over 90% of the Task Force recommendations have been implemented with additional projects underway.
Building an Innovative Stepped Care Model
Key to re-imagining student mental health services has been the implementation of the Stepped Care Model. This model of care, which ensures students are matched to the right level of intervention to address their unique needs. Services and resources are organized from low to high intensity and include health promotion activities, peer support services, 24/7 telephone counselling and access to psychiatric consultation, among others. At UofT, The the model has prioritizes prioritized access to care by offering same or next day counselling. For students with highly complex or urgent needs, service navigation integrating campus and hospital-based care has been implemented through a partnership with CAMH. A similar model will be built to support UTM and UTSC students in the future.
A Learning Health System at UofT
The redesign of mental health services has been achieved by collaboration across multiple groups, including students, Inlight, the UTM, UTSG and UTSC health centres, and many partners across the university and hospital sector. The redesign process has paved the way for establishment of a collaborative network that is supporting a learning health system, which ensures students have equitable access to high quality, evidence-based services that are continually improved through collection and integration of data into policy and practice.
Visit the University of Toronto website to learn more about this model of care.
Tri-Campus Student Mental Health Evaluation Projects
Our collaborative network enables us deliver a learning health system model by tracking access to care, perception of mental health care service use and clinical outcomes across key interventions – with key learnings continually informing quality improvement. There are three key evaluation projects currently underway with more in the planning stages. Drawing on best practices for student engagement, student-co-design is built into all evaluation initiatives.
The Student Perception of Mental Health Care Survey
The Student Perception of Mental Health Care Survey was first launched in 2022 to track student experience data and to inform service improvement. Learn more about the survey.
Evaluation of Same Day Counselling at UofT
To ensure timely access to mental health services, same day counselling is available to students on all three campuses. Early assessment suggests there are only rare cases when students cannot book an appointment on the same or next day, if they want one. However, we do not know a lot about what is working best and would like to better understand how students experience same day counselling.
In 2024, an evaluation of same day counselling was co-designed with U of T students from all three campuses. In the summer of 2024, the evaluation was implemented in the campus health centres and involved students completing short forms before, during and after the session. Currently, the evaluation data are being analyzed. Results will be shared with the university community in 2025. Data will be used to improve mental health services for all students.
Check back here in 2025 for the results of the evaluation.
How to get involved: Reach out to us at smh.evaluations@utoronto.ca
Evaluation of the University of Toronto Navigator service at CAMH
The University of Toronto Navigator (UTN) Service began at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in September 2022 with one full time Navigator. A second Navigator was added January 2023. Evaluation of the service is ongoing. Early data suggests that 9 in 10 students who are successfully discharged from the Navigator service do no return to the CAMH emergency department within 6 months.
A Mental Health Data Strategy for UofT
The mental health strategy has prioritized excellence in data collection to support evaluation of all aspects of the stepped care implementation. With the support and guidance of the Student Mental Health Tri Campus Team, it is now possible to establish a consistent and reliable tri-campus data set that enables continuous tracking of service utilization and key outcomes. Data is gathered and stored according to best practices, adhering to the highest standards of privacy and protection. Aggregated, anonymized results of evaluation projects are available to the University community through a communication process that involves students. In addition, aggregated findings that meet standards for publication will be disseminated to the wider academic community through conference presentations and within the peer-reviewed literature, supporting knowledge transfer and future innovation of services for students.
For general questions about student mental health evaluations, please contact: smh.evaluations@utoronto.ca
Sarah Brennenstuhl, MSW, PhD, is a Senior Research Associate with Inlight and the Data Strategy and Evaluation Lead for Student Mental Health. Sarah co-leads the Tri-Campus Mental Health Evaluation Project Working Group.