Many students find the transition from university to college challenging. With all of the readings, assignments and group projects that occur in condensed, applied programs, college can actually be more difficult. It’s very challenging to balance a personal life and work life while completing such demanding programs, but it’s important to try and do so. If we don’t, we will often turn to ways of coping that can be harmful to us in the long run.

For instance, drinking lots of coffee to stay awake/alert and reducing the amount of sleep we need does work, but only for a few days at the most. Some people try to use alcohol or drugs as a way to feel better and cope. We do these things because they give us fast results, but this is deceiving because they aren’t effective coping strategies in the long-run. Eventually, coping this way will cause us to run our bodies and minds down. We can even risk developing longer term problems such as substance abuse issues.

While it might seem counterproductive, sometimes it’s about squeezing things into our busy schedules that will actually help us be more efficient in the end. For example, by giving our bodies the rest they need, we can approach challenges with a fresh perspective. With a clear mind, we are often better able to tackle problems and in less time than when we’re running on empty.

Making healthier food choices and preparing our own meals can take more time than hitting a drive thru, but it also gives us food that provides us with energy and nutrition that will fuel us for much longer. Cooking food at home can also give us a much-needed distraction and break.

Sometimes, figuring out how to add more things into our lives when we feel like we don’t have enough time as it is, can be difficult. Talking with a counsellor about our time management skills and how to access support from the Academic Success Centre can help steer us in the right direction.

Anger is a normal reaction to situations that we feel are frustrating, overwhelming or out of our control. All the stresses associated with school can certainly lead us to feel this way.

For some people, anger is triggered more easily and felt more intensely. If you think you might be one of those people, you may want to talk to someone like a counsellor about how to manage your emotions. You may also want to talk to someone if:

• when feeling angry you also feel overwhelmed and out of control
• the intensity of the anger you feel doesn’t always fit the situation
• anger feels like your primary emotion
• your relationships are suffering as a result of your anger
• anger is causing you to act out violently

Recognizing that your anger might be a problem is the first step in learning how to manage it. If you don’t want to talk to someone about your anger, there are strategies you can try on your own to help calm and mitigate your anger.

Breathe: breathing will help with the physiological symptoms associated with anger. It will slow your heart rate and help relax your body. Try breathing from your belly instead of your chest. If you put your arms over your stomach you should be able to feel it moving in and out as you take a few deep breaths.

Counting to 10 or 100: counting can allow you some time to de-escalate. Try counting until you feel your anger as become less intense.

Time out: If you can, take a break from the situation that is triggering your anger. It’s OK to excuse yourself from class and go outside and get a breath of fresh air if this will help you calm down.

Self-talk: pay attention to what you are saying in your head. Are you focusing on things that are making you more angry? Try repeating phrases like “relax”, “take it easy”, “calm down” and “I’m over it.”

Distract: think of a person, place, thing or activity that brings you a sense of calm or enjoyment. The more you practice this the easier it gets.

Click here for some more tips on controlling anger.

Aboriginal students face unique mental health challenges. Historical issues such as colonization, and Aboriginal residential schools have negatively impacted Aboriginal culture and tradition. These impacts are continuing to be felt by younger generations, including many Aboriginal students at RRC.

Moving to a new community can also be scary and stressful and many Aboriginal students choose to move from their home communities to pursue their education at RRC. Relocating and adjusting to a new home and school environment can be difficult.

If you are an Aboriginal student, know that there are specific supports available to you. The Aboriginal Centre is a welcoming, friendly place at the Notre Dame Campus with a lounge area, computer lab and a team of staff who are happy to assist you. Room P210J at the Exchange District Campus also offers similar services and you can drop by there anytime.

Other areas of interest and support include RRC’s Traditional Teachers, Aboriginal Liaison/Advisors and Aboriginal Student Support & Community Relations including their Facebook Page.

You may also want to talk to someone about what you’re going through. RRC has free, confidential counsellors in Counselling and Accessibility Services. From help adjusting to a new community to support with mental health concerns or financial counselling, a counsellor can help you work through any problems that you have.

To book an appointment with a counsellor, complete and submit the online intake form. Someone contact you shortly to set up an appointment.

It’s not weird, strange, odd or unusual to have a mental health issue. One in five of us will experience having a mental health issue at some point in our lives.

What is weird, strange, odd and unusual is that we make people feel bad for something they can’t control. This is called stigma.

Stigma, like you heard about in the video above, occurs from a place of fear. Stigma spreads misinformation, labels individuals and perpetuates stereotypes. It also leaves people with mental health issues feeling isolated and alone and can prevent others from reaching out for the help they need.

We can all play a role in breaking down stigma by educating ourselves about mental health and mental illness. Here are just two things we can be mindful of on a daily basis to help reverse negative mental health stereotypes and stigma.

• People are not their illnessesSaying that someone is a schizophrenic or bulimic is insensitive and disrespectful because it reduces the person down to their illness. It’s important that we recognize that people are not their illness, rather they live with their illness. Many people with mental illness are already trying to understand their identity — they don’t need us to make it worse by labelling them.

• Stigmatizing languageOften we will use words to explain one thing when really, we mean something else. For example, we might say traffic was ‘crazy’ as opposed to traffic ‘chaotic’. We might do this with the best intentions and without even noticing it, but the words we choose can have an impact on individuals with mental health issues and perpetuate stigma. So next time you catch yourself saying something was ‘crazy’ or that person is ‘so OCD’, see if there’s a better, more accurate way to describe the situation.

For more insight into how we can work together to break down stigma, visit bringchange2mind.org.

Did you know the counsellors in Counselling and Accessibility Services will talk to you about anything?

That’s right! From dating to getting fired from your part-time job to the fight you just had with your best friend, you can talk to RRC’s counsellors about whatever is bothering you, free of charge.

The easiest way to schedule an appointment is by filling out the online intake form. That way, you can submit it from campus, work or the comfort of your own bed at 3 a.m. Someone from Counselling & Accessibility Services contact you within a couple of days.

Have you talked to one of RRC’s counsellors before? Tell us what your experience was like in the comment section below!

How do you think Red River College (RRC) can better assist students with their mental health? What kinds of services should RRC offer to those experiencing mental health struggles? What more can be done to decrease stigma and increase positive mental health on campus?

If you have an opinion on student mental health, this is your chance to be heard! RRC is running several student focus groups to gather insight and ideas on how to improve the mental health of the entire college community. This is all part of the Healthy Minds Healthy College initaitive that the college launched last week.

Each focus group will have 10 student participatns and will be led by a mental health professional. The time committment is two hours and you will receive a free meal and an Enjoy Life More package complete with tips and information about how to stay on top of your mental health.

Here are the dates and times of the focus groups:

• Monday, Nov. 3 11:00-1:00 at Roblin Centre at the Exchange District Campus
• Tuesday, Nov. 4 11:00-1:00 at Notre Dame Campus
• Tuesday, Nov. 4 4:00-6:00 at Notre Dame Campus
• Thursday, Nov. 6 11:00-1:00 at Notre Dame Campus
• Thursday, Nov. 6 4:00-6:00 at Roblin Centre at the Exchange District Campus

By taking part in a focus group, you will have a direct impact on the college’s plans to increase positive student mental health on campus. So if you can spare the time, please consider participating!

To participate in one of the focus groups, please email Laureen Janzen at ljanzen@rrc.ca by Friday, Oct. 24.

For many people, negative thoughts come and go. For others, they are more persistent and can seriously impact quality of life.

For anyone grappling with many negative thoughts on a daily basis, there is a course that can help. It’s called Living Life to the Full.

Designed for anyone who recognizes their thoughts are sometimes unhelpful, Living Life to the Full teaches participants useful skills for understanding and correcting their negative thinking.

For example, have you ever bombed a test even though you knew your stuff? Have you ever let nerves get the best of you during a presentation? In these cases and more, it may actually be our own thinking that causes us to do poorly — not the fact that we haven’t studied or adequately prepared.

Tessa Blaikie, youth mental health promotions worker at the Canadian Mental Health Association Winnipeg, teaches Living Life to the Full and believes there are many college students who can benefit from the course material.

“Students who notice their negative thinking is getting in the way of what they want out of life are a good fit for the course,” says Tessa. “This includes students who live with anxiety or depression since negative thought patterns tie into those mental health issues.”

The eight week course focuses on five areas of cognitive behavioural therapy to teach participants how to handle their thoughts when they are experiencing emotions such as frustration or defeat.

With a personal understanding of how the course works, Tessa says she is well-equipped to help others through the material. She even used the course material when finishing the conclusion and bibliography sections of her masters thesis. Rather than tackling these tasks all at once, she broke the large-scale project down into 30 steps, which helped to minimize her feelings of stress and anxiety about finishing those parts.

“All of a sudden, I could sit down and accomplish something in 15 minutes. This really helped in terms of time management and for my motivation,” says Tessa. “This speaks to how the program is not only great for helping us recognize our negative thought patterns, but changing our behaviour. I would recommend it to any student who believes their negative thinking may be holding them back.”

The next Living Life to the Full course starts this fall. To register for the course, visit the Canadian Mental Health Association Winnipeg.

Now that summer is over and you’re back in college (or starting college for the first time), getting enough quality sleep is really important.

Regular, consistent sleep patterns will help you feel more energized, alert and attentive when you wake up in the morning. Healthy sleep patterns can also enhance your cognitive functioning, learning and memory.

A lack of sleep can lead to an array of problems. For example, people with persistent and untreated insomnia are at risk for experiencing depression for the first time or a relapse of depressive symptoms. There is also good evidence showing that insomnia is a risk factor for the development or recurrence of anxiety disorders and substance abuse problems.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, the recommended amount of sleep for people 18 and over is between seven and nine hours each night. The quality of that sleep is also important, which our lifestyle and health habits can negatively or positively impact.

Try answering the following questions. They can provide good insight into whether you are getting enough sleep.

• Do you have a consistent sleep schedule? (i.e. get a similar amount of sleep each night).
• Are you productive during the days that you get your usual hours of sleep?
• Do you have a constant urge to nap?
• Are you dependent on caffeine all throughout the day?
• Are you able to fall asleep easily at night?

For more on sleep including tips and sleep quizzes, visit the National Sleep Foundation.


Lauren MacLean is president of the Red River College Students’ Association. She is completing her second year of Business Administration with an accounting major. After receiving her RRC diploma she plans to continue her studies towards a Commerce degree. 

Over the past year I’ve met many Student Executives from across Canada through my involvement with the Red River College Students’ Association (RRCSA). One thing I’ve discovered throughout my travels is that the same thing is on all our minds – mental health!

From discussions about our personal experiences with mental health to how students on campus are affected by it to what we could do to increase awareness, it’s is one of the biggest priorities on many campuses and this year the RRCSA is fully committed to keeping the conversation going.

Building on student efforts from last year, the RRCSA is partnering with the college’s Healthy College, Healthy Minds initiative to bring students a Mental Health Awareness Week from Oct. 14 to 17. During this week, students will learn skills to help them understand how to take care of their mental health and know what to do if they are struggling with a mental health issue.

We’re bringing dogs of all sizes and ages to campus to help ease some of the tension that tends to come with studying for midterms. We are also going to help students unleash their creative side with painting and drawing activities and hold a sweats and sweater day to encourage everyone to get comfy and relax.

Mental health is vitally important and it’s important that we all learn how to stay mentally healthy while during school so we can continue these good habits when we enter the workforce.

The fact is that everyone has their own way of de-stressing that works for them, because each of us encounters stress in different ways. One person’s experience is not more or less valid than the next person’s. We simply all need to pay attention to ourselves (and each other) and learn to use resources that are there for us.

Whether it’s talking to a classmate or counsellor, taking time for a quick stretch or limiting the amount of time we spend in front of the computer, there are lots of ways to be mindful of our mental health and plenty of room for discussion about all the different techniques! I for one am very excited to hear about this from students and to keep talking about mental health.

It’s a great time for mental health at Red River College!

First of all, today is the official launch of this site, which is part of Red River College’s Healthy Minds Healthy College initiative. We hope you continue to check back as we’ll be posting interesting and useful mental health articles, videos and resources on this blog throughout the year.

Secondly, Red River College’s Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW) is coming up fast and the Red River College Students’ Association has some exciting things planned to help students de-stress and take control of their mental health.

Check out the following events on campus during RRC’s MHAW (Oct. 14 – 17):

• Send Your Stress Away
  When: Tuesday, Oct. 14 from 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the Exchange District and Notre Dame Campuses and 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. at the Winkler Campus
  Where: Atrium at the EDC, Library Hallway and Voyageur Hallway at NDC and the Student Lunch Room at Winkler
  Get your creative juices flowing with this post-secret inspired art event! Drop by to create a postcard inspired by something that stresses you out to help relieve some of that stress! After the event, the postcards will be collected anonymously and displayed around the school for other students to view.

• Dog Therapy Day
  When: Wednesday, Oct. 15 from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
  Where: Atrium at EDC and Library Hallway at NDC
  Pet your stress away with some help from a group of cute, cuddly therapy dogs from St. John Ambulance!

• Speakers
  When: Thursday, Oct. 16 from 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.
  Where: EDC, Room P107
  Come listen to guest speakers Kieran Moolchan and Justin Luchinski talk about their struggles and successs with mental illness.

• Sweats and Sweaters Day
  When: Friday, Oct. 17
  Where: All campuses
  Come to school in your most comfy casual wear and relax! You can also indulge in some free chocolate thanks to the Red River College Students’ Association and free hot drinks at EDC and NDC from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.