Annual mental health policy report indicates an increase in student use of mental health and wellness services.
On March 6, the University Culture Committee shared with the Board of Trustees (BOT) an information report titled the Student Mental Health Policy Annual Report. The report is a result of a 2024 provincial government directive requiring all universities to have a mental health policy in place and to report annually to their “Board of Governors” on the operationalization of the policy. This new report fulfills 2024-25 requirements.
The report includes a range of statistics regarding student mental health and well-being, collected largely from the 2025 Canadian Campus Wellbeing Survey (CCWS), the 2024-25 Student Affairs Annual Report, and some data from the Queen’s Shift Survey.
According to the report, since 2022, students’ mental health at Queen’s has seen improvements, but there are still disparities across student groups, such as students with financial burdens, disabilities, neurodivergent students, international students, and equity-deserving identity groups.
Survey findings from CCWS showed that 74 per cent of students reported average or high levels of positive mental well-being, and 58 per cent rated their mental health as good, very good, or excellent.
The survey also found 86 per cent of students reported a sense of belonging at Queen’s, up from 83 per cent in 2022, and 89 per cent described the learning environment as supportive and respectful.
Conversely, 10 per cent of students reported experiencing suicidal thoughts in the past year. As well, 29 per cent scored in the severe range on the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, a brief questionnaire designed to measure a person’s psychological distress.
Alongside survey findings, the report details mental health service delivery across the campus. Queen’s Student Accessibility Services “supported” 6,299 students, with 34 per cent identifying a mental health condition as their primary disability. The Gregory David and Neil Rossy Health Promotion Hub—a student wellness drop-in service that provides students with support and resources—recorded 2,845 drop-in visits and delivered 263 professional wellness coaching appointments to address stress management, nutrition, substance use, and more.
In the 2024-25 academic year, Student Wellness Services (SWS) recorded 747 mental health intake and triage appointments, 1,986 same-day counselling appointments for urgent concerns, and 12,152 non-urgent therapy appointments for mental health distress. SWS also provided 2,747 mental-health-related medical appointments and 273 psychiatry appointments.
Some of the targeted supports included 213 counselling appointments and 72 advising sessions at the Four Directions Indigenous Student Centre, intercultural wellness programming reaching 1,919 participants through the Queen’s University International Centre, and gender-affirming care for more than 100 trans and non-binary students.
Overall, SWS delivered 40,329 clinical appointments to 8,973 students, including 17,905 mental health appointments.
At the March 6 BOT meeting, Chair of the University Culture Committee, Nancy Evans, spoke to the report. She highlighted the improved statistics compared to 2022, calling it “positive indicators and encouragement,” but noted that the data provided accumulated averages and doesn’t represent a universal student experience.
“There are students […] who are experiencing significant challenges and significant stressors. And we also saw the pattern in the feedback that often those challenges are experienced disproportionately among students who are under financial stress, and also students with identity-related statuses on campus,” Evans said.
The annual report outlines priority areas for 2025-26, including expanding culturally responsive supports, improving access to support during “peak demand periods,” increasing crisis response capacity, and strengthening evaluation of program effectiveness.
Tags
Board of Trustees, Canadian Campus Wellbeing Survey, CCWS, Student Affairs Annual Report, Student Mental Health Policy Annual Report
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