Authors: Karen Oikonen, Adam Starkman, Peter Jones and Andrea Yip
A university-based research team completed a service design research study for the OCAD University Health and Wellness Centre, developing a service concept, student-centred journey, and a system map to illustrate solutions and recommendations for extending the service concept broadly across post-secondary campuses. The research identified both extremely local solution states for improving student awareness and experience of mental health, and discovered broadly systemic factors applicable across all campuses. Systemic problems included the student negotiation of major life transitions while resolving uncertainties and social risks in mental health seeking and the recruitment of social and clinical services in the maintenance of resiliency. Service and system maps will be presented to illustrate the student pre-service mental health journey and system-level solutions proposed for post-secondary education.