Purpose:
The Healthy Campus Alberta Community of Practice strives to create an inclusive, collaborative, and community-integratedapproach to mental health and wellness.
This will be achieved through accessible and sustainable program ideas, sharing best practices and research, and fostering a culture of support and compassion for all post-secondary institutions across Alberta, al while recognizing their unique contexts, needs, and successes.
The design team represents a group of dedicated volunteers from a variety of institutions and organizations, committed to the goal of creating caring campus communities throughout the province of Alberta.
As a representation of the larger Community of Practice, the Design Team exists to provide overall direction and guidance as well as organization of events and activities. All work of the HCA Design Team must adapt and align with the culture of post-secondary mental health and addiction in Alberta. This will be done through regular evaluation of stakeholder representation on the design team transparent interaction, and open communication with the community as a whole.
Guiding Values:
The Design Team will:
- Value student voices and diverse perspectives and make sure this voice is represented and heard when in a meaningful way when addressing issues relating to mental health and addiction on Alberta post-secondary campuses.
- Recognize the importance of using the lens of a ‘whole campus’ approach. This lens acknowledges that post-secondary campus communities are composed of administration, service providers, faculty, staff and students, all of whom play a role in achieving mental health for all.
- Recognize and value the intersection of community and campus services as a critical piece in meeting the mental health needs of all members of our Alberta post-secondary campus communities.
- Recognize and celebrate the diversity of post-secondary campuses across the province.
- Commit to inspiring a cultural change in the way that mental health and addiction are viewed and constructed on post-secondary campuses.
- Honour our foundingprinciples of collaboration, sharing, and inclusion with the intent to leverageour resources in the best interests of all within our provincial post-secondary communities.
- Commit to sharing ideas, evidence-informed practices and fostering a culture of support and compassion.
- Seek to reduce barriers to accessing services and to shift the focusto mental health for
- Commit to promoting equity in student access to services and programming relating to mental health and addiction on all Alberta post-secondary campuses. This involvesthe provision of timely, consistent, baseline services on all post-secondary campuses across the province.
- Commit to advocating for the ‘mental health of all’ on our Alberta post-secondary campuses at the local, provincial, and institutional level. We recognize the value of a unified voice in achieving meaningful change.
Membership:
The membership of the Healthy Campus Alberta Community of Practice Design Team shall consist of a broad representation of the organizations and institutions that make up the community. In order to ensure a diverse representation we may limit the number of participants from a particular organization. We will also seek to have a minimum of 2 student positions on the team at all times. Members will commit to a term of 2 years. Student members will commit to a term of 1 year. The Healthy Campus Alberta Coordinator will be a permanent position on the Design Team and serve as facilitator.
Accountability:
The Design Team is accountable to the greater Community of Practice and the Canadian Mental Health Association. Regular reports will be provided to keep the Community and CMHA up to date.
Meetings:
The Design Team will meet the first Tuesday of every month. Additional meetings may be called if needed.
February, 2018