North Island College (NIC) is taking part in Thrive Month during October to help students facing mental health challenges.
Activities are being held online and at all of NIC’s campuses, and the college is raising awareness about their mental health services throughout the month.
“The goal of Thrive is to bring students, faculty and staff together to do something fun, healthy and encourage positive physical and mental health,” said Felicity Blaiklock, NIC’s director of student affairs. “We wanted to celebrate our return to campus and create space for people to get together, meet each other and make connections, both in-person and virtually.”
The University of British Columbia started Thrive and NIC adopted the initiative last year by participating in Thrive Week.
“We’ve had so many people in the college community step forward and want to be involved, whether it was leading an event, helping to organize, or just helping to spread the word and encourage conversation. It’s been really inspiring,” said Blaiklock. “Mental health challenges can sometimes be like the proverbial frog in boiling water. You don’t know you’re in trouble until it gets bad. By engaging in conversation and normalizing talking about mental health, we hope students are able to recognize when things are not okay and reach out for help.”
NIC is currently planning to participate annually in Thrive in October and February.
“We want to make it as easy as possible for students to access services,” said Blaiklock. “Mental health should be treated like physical health. Regular checkups are important to make sure everything is okay.”
NIC’s full list of Thrive events can be viewed here.
