Mishandling serious mental health issues at instutional levels

Over the past 5 weeks. 3 students. 3 Young intelligent minds attending post secondary school. Ended their lives. It is not easy to find this information. The U of A and surrounding post secondary institutions do a fantastic job at hiding it. This is unfortunate. As a former student and a depression sufferer. I never saw a light. I never saw any way out of school. If I did, I was told I would never live a happy financial comfortable life.

In some cases. Yes, you may not get your dream job unless you incur 50 thousand dollars of debt and have your emotions bludgeoned by your GPA.

This is the sadness that is school.

Happy smiling faces on the post secondary websites! Get the Career you want! Easy, Flexible courses! Great Professors! Crippling debt and anxiety!

Wait. That last one is forfeited from the advertisements. But, why? If you are preparing young people for the realism of life. For the realism of the world. For the realism of school and the life after school. You should advertise that mental health is a major role in post secondary education. It is that simple.

You should offer mental health services. Not to take away from the U of A. But, You have thousands of students. Most of whom do not know they need help. You do not help them or point them in that direction. Terribly, you omit any realism of depression. You have "psychologists" or mice in training. Who act about as efficiently as talking to yourself in the mirror. So, say you get help. They talk to you (maybe) tell you that your personal life might be effecting you and you should not take school as seriously.

Wait a minute.... At a school, telling you not to take school seriously. I take 5000 dollars seriously. Apparently they don't.

So, you talk to them. You expect medication to help stabilize you enough that you can swallow 3 labs and 6 courses and the constant berating from professors. Nope. You have to wait 2-3 months.

That's great. People in need now, who may need meds urgently. Or at least a placebo.

They are told "Cool man, wait 2 months. Enjoy school, though"

That is not professional, it is not caring and it is not healthy. It is cruel and damn well criminal.

It might be the sheer amount of students needing help, it may be the lack of activity in the work force. It may be you just want the money to afford that house looking over the river valley.

Whatever the case

U OF A, YOU ARE TERRIBLE AT HANDLING MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES OF THE STUDENTS WHO KEEP YOUR BILLS PAID AND BUILDINGS RUNNING.

You hid 1 suicide completely, considered one a "hazardous waste clean up" and the third one was because people had released it on social media. Tell people to help themselves. Tell people to become a healthy mind before they become intelligent. They can regurgitate information while they battle demons. But, the demons will remain in the brain. Never the information.

I'm ultimately concerned of the suicides that may have happened and we never know. I'm concerned about the future of the minds of students. 

Student Union, Professors, Faculty, Deans and the institution in general has failed on a colossal scale. No one has said anything.

Maybe someone will read this. Maybe they won't.

If you are a student. Call a hotline, call a friend, tell your parents that you are depressed. Whether they can help you or not may not matter. Being able to tell someone that you are sick is invaluable to your health.

Best Regards,
Devon

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Devon is a survivor of 3 years of post secondary. He will never recover from the damage done from living with the depression that comes with post secondary.

Devon can be reached at devonmhunt@gmail.com

28 days

I've become a cliche.

In biology 20, if you have ever taken it that men... In a way, do have a menstrual cycle. Sans bleeding. But, we totally want the DVD of beaches and the 6 bars of Jersey Milk. Men go through a period of anger, sadness and in some men.. A series of depressive events.

I am one of those men.

I have learned my demons take a vacation (or staycation if you will) and come back ever 26 days.

In that time, I question my life, my existence and revisit the night I decided not to end my life. It has become a visit.

Just the demons wreck shit on their way out. This is what depression feels like for me.

I do not enjoy it. But, in a cynical way. I have become to expect it, and welcome it. As a weird introspective way to view myself. It is never positive. But, it does help me understand my functioning brain.

Over the past 5 weeks, 3 students have committed suicide at the U of A.

Please read next blogpost for follow up.