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2026 HCA Wellness Summit
May 21, 2026 - May 22, 2026
8:30 am MDT - 4:30 pm MDT
The 2026 HCA Wellness Summit will take place at the Concordia University of Edmonton on May 21st & 22nd!
2026 Wellness Summit: Invitation to Present
We are excited to extend a warm invitation to the Healthy Campus Alberta Community of Practice to present at the 2026 Wellness Summit, with the theme: “Wayfinding – Together in Wellness”
The Healthy Campus Alberta (HCA) Wellness Summit is the largest post-secondary mental health conference in Alberta. This annual gathering of the HCA Community of Practice (CoP) is a space for students, staff, faculty, administrators and community members to learn, share, and celebrate the work being done across Alberta, and to cultivate actionable changes in the province’s post-secondary mental health landscape.
View and download the IVP details here
Submit to the Invitation to Present
“Wayfinding – Together in Wellness”
Based on feedback and insights drawn from conversations, surveys, campus visits and events with the Community of Practice since the 2025 Wellness Summit, it is clear that post-secondary institutions are navigating new challenges with less resources. We bring people to navigate these challenges together at the HCA Wellness Summit. We value your experiences and perspectives to be pivotal in shaping a wellness-centered campus community.
Streams
Meeting People Where They Are
This stream recognizes the lived realities, cultural contexts, and capacities of students and staff on campus, inviting the community of practice to share and reflect on how to ground approaches to supporting campus mental health and well-being in these experiences.
Meeting people where they are creates space for multiple perspectives, honours culturally grounded approaches, and recognizes the pressures faced by students, staff, and faculty on campus. As campuses encounter rising loneliness and strive to engage students in ways that are meaningful and allow them to feel safe and comfortable to show up with their whole selves in mental health and wellness spaces with all of their diverse experiences, this stream invites opportunities for connection on the path toward healthier campus communities.
Potential presentations for this stream might include:
- Student engagement
- Building connection on campus
- Peer support and mentorship models
- Indigenizing and decolonizing approaches to well-being
- Culturally responsive mental health programs
- Men’s mental health on campus
- Student athlete mental health
- Equipping instructors to support wellness in the classroom
- Supporting staff wellness in high-demand environment
- Creative ways for bringing wellness to students, staff and/or faculty on campus (student-friendly, staff/faculty-friendly spaces)
Mapping a Sustainable Path
In the face of increasing demand and limited resources, mapping a sustainable path invites campuses to gather information on the work already being done across campuses and in the surrounding communities, reducing silos and building capacity. It encourages system-level thinking, considering how to support supporters and building strategies that take a whole-campus approach.
When mapping sustainable paths, we also look at how to sustain students, with food, housing, and financial insecurity becoming a growing concern across Alberta campuses, all of which have direct impacts on student well-being and capacity to learn.
Potential presentations for this stream might include:
- Burnout prevention
- Staff and faculty mental health and well-being support
- Resource/Wellness ecosystem mapping
- Campus-wide mental health and well-being strategies
- Leadership-level buy-in for wellness support
- Addressing food insecurity
- Supporting financial literacy among students
Responding to Changing Landscapes
This stream considers how campus communities navigate the broad shifts influencing post-secondary life. Rapid developments in artificial intelligence impacting academic and mental health spaces, the accelerating impacts of climate change, and global and political events are reshaping how students and staff learn, work, and experience well-being. And, where post-secondary environments have long been places for open, curious dialogue, global events and political contexts feel increasingly divisive and emotionally charged. These evolving conditions bring new questions, pressures, and opportunities that require thoughtful attention.
By sharing perspectives and approaches, this sub-theme encourages the Community of Practice to consider how we collectively navigate these shifts while maintaining a sense of steadiness and connection, helping campus communities orient themselves amid change and fostering environments where resilience, understanding, and thoughtful engagement can thrive.
Potential presentations for this stream might include:
- Skills for curious, respectful dialogue
- Climate anxiety and student well-being
- Ethical considerations for AI use for mental health and in the classroom
- Supporting international students amid geopolitical events
Orienting to Well-being Through Coping, Connection & Recovery
This stream explores how students and staff navigate the stresses and pressures of campus life, and how campuses can respond with compassion, understanding, and meaningful support. Behaviours such as, but not limited to, substance use, gambling, disordered eating, and problematic digital use (“doomscrolling”) often emerge as ways of coping, highlighting opportunities for campuses to foster connection, reduce stigma, acknowledge addictions, and support well-being.
Participants will share research, initiatives, and practices that help campus communities respond thoughtfully and collaboratively, creating environments where individuals feel supported, connected, and able to navigate challenges in healthy and sustainable ways.
Potential presentations for this stream might include:
- Equipping students and staff with safe/healthy coping strategies
- Reducing Stigma and Encouraging Help-Seeking
- “Digital detox” to promote connection
- Understanding and Responding to Eating Concerns
- Impacts of Gambling on Post-Secondary Youth
- Harm Reduction Approaches to Substance Use on Campus
- Making Recovery-Friendly Campuses
Summit Outcomes
The desired outcomes of the 2026 HCA Wellness Summit are that attendees are able to:
- Build connections between HCA Community of Practice members to enhance collaboration across Alberta campuses and communities.
- Learn new ways to navigate emerging and persistent challenges to mental health and well-being on campus.
- Celebrate work being done across the province to reduce stigma, cultivate connection, address social and environmental impacts on mental health and well-being, support supporters, and promote system-wide care for campus wellness.
- Map out and develop actionable plans that align with a shared vision for healthy, caring campus communities
Date and Location
Date and Time: Thursday May 21st & Friday May 22nd | 2 Days
Location: Concordia University in Edmonton, Alberta.
Submissions to present are due on February 13th, 2026.
Registration will open in March 2026!