Canadian Mental Health week has begun with a donation from Bell Let's Talk and the Rossy Family Foundation.
The two organizations have teamed up to donate a total of $500,000 to the Federation of CEGEPs and the UQAM Foundation to help students make the transition from high school to post-secondary education.
Over the next three years the funding will help the Zenétudes (Zen Study) program assist up to 9,000 students.
UQAM professor Diane Marcotte began the program which offers students workshops about mental health awareness and teaches them strategies on avoiding anxiety and depression.
“If we don't want them to dropout from school we need to support them at the beginning of their program,” she said.
One Cegep du Vieux Montreal student, Juliette Breton, said she gets up early and stays up late in order to meet the pressure to get good grades.
"It's very competitive in school. We really have to deal with teachers, other students, due dates, work and everything. For me it's really stressful because I always want to give the best to my teachers, doing my best work and everything," said Breton.
"Even when I don't need to put that much effort, I still do it."
Zenétudes is currently offered in 10 francophone schools across the province, and the donation means it will be used in more CEGEPs and may expand to English CEGEPs.
Vanier College said if Zenétudes is made available to English CEGEPs, it is on board.
“Our students are more and more anxious. They have more and more mental health issues,” said Monique Magnan, director of student services. “It becomes a bit too much for some students, so that's why we need also to give them more support than we did before.”
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