Real Campus widens scope on access to mental health and wellness resources for students

Accessing mental health and wellness resources has now gotten better for George Brown College (GBC) students with the introduction of a new student assistance program.

This is as the Student Association (SA), which funds The Dialog, partners with a new service provider, Real Campus, to better cater to students in need of support.

Students insured under the WeSpeakStudent health benefits program now have access to a new line of support services which ranges from health care to broader personal support.

The new student assistance program features four core components. These are:

• 30-minute on-demand counselling, which allows students to access immediate support and assistance, available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
• On-going counselling for students requiring continuous support. Real Campus can schedule sessions with a specific counsellor on a regular basis.
• Virtual doctor visits who can diagnose illnesses, provide prescriptions and offer medical advice.
• Broader support in areas such as financial advising, legal services, academic coaching and nutrition.

These services are all available via online platforms and through the mobile app, Maple.

According to Melody Phu from WeSpeakStudent, there were limitations with the previous student assistance program ran by Aspiria for the past two years, which warranted the change.

“The old program was just reactive, because when a student have an issue we asked them to call a number and talk to somebody,” she said. “With Real Campus, not only are they getting that service but they are getting a proactive program as well.”

Phu said that this new program goes beyond counselling, by taking into consideration the factors that can influence a student’s mental health and affect their overall well-being.

“The last program was really marketed towards students in crisis. But with this program, we are really trying to send a message to students that you don’t have to be that bad to seek services,” she added.

Real Campus began its operations at GBC as of Aug. 24, 2018 and have recorded a promising volume of students who are reaching out to access their services so far.

However, they are encouraging more students to tap into these new resources which are already paid for in their college health care subscription.

“We really want to target the student in all aspects of their life and not only related to mental health because we do realize that how mental health problems are created is because of the million different things that are happening in the student’s life,” said Rasha Mardini, manager of care co-ordination at Real Campus

This was the inspiration behind the broader support services as well as the virtual doctors, which targets international students who have restricted access to public health care.

To access Real Campus, students can call 1-877-390-REAL (7325), send an email to hello@realcampus.ca, visit their website at realcampus.ca or drop by the SA office for more information.