In the face of COVID-19, classes this winter semester have quickly wrapped up or moved online, and campuses have shut down entirely, with university administrations telling staff to work from home and, in some cases, telling students to vacate residence halls. But as campus life adjusts to social distancing and self-isolation, how can administrators prevent the students who depend on campus resources from falling through the cracks?
That was the question on Kathleen Bateman's mind this March as McGill University worked to address the rapidly developing COVID-19 situation. As associate director of health promotion and outreach, Ms. Bateman heads up the Healthy Living Annex, the health-promotion arm of McGill's brand new $14-million Student Wellness Hub, which opened in September. The facility represents a new so-called "holistic" model of addressing student mental health and well-being. "It's a new approach to looking at physical and mental health as a collaborative stepped care model, which means ensuring students are supported regardless of what they come in for," Ms. Bateman said.
As she plotted out the best course of action for addressing the effects of the pandemic on the institution's delivery of mental-health services, one particular concern kept coming up: "How do we create a sense of community for the students when they have to be in isolation?"
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