With the support of a donation from the Rossy Foundation, Queen’s University and the Department of Psychiatry are working to launch a student mental-health research centre in September.
U-Flourish, a group of researchers based at Queen’s who have completed various initiatives to improve student mental health since their inception 2017, will include the U-Flourish Centre come the fall term. This move represents a major investment in this field of education and research, which will also expand the reach and impact of U-Flourish. Those involved hope to see this investment translate into tangible changes in the mental health of students not only at Queen’s, but on campuses across the world. The centre will be under the direction of Professor Anne Duffy (Queen’s University, Department of Psychiatry), an academic who focuses on student mental health research.
“This funding will build capacity for student mental health research and education, nationally and internationally, and allow us to take a quantum leap forward in translating findings from individual studies into a curated library of sustainable and scalable resources and support,” says Duffy. “This will help student well-being and mental health today and ensure further investment in applied student mental health research in the future.”
The new funding will be used to support various initiatives, including data analysis, student training, student scholarships, international exchanges and collaborations, and pilot studies.
Vice-Principal (Advancement) Karen Bertrand, states, “I want to express my gratitude to The Rossy Foundation, which has supported numerous mental health programs at Queen’s and throughout Canada. The foundation and the university are working together to create a culture of wellness where students at Queen’s and on campuses across the country can reach their full potential.”
