In an age of rapid technological advancement and persistent social change, the landscape of higher education has transformed dramatically over the last few decades. Today’s postsecondary students consequently live with unprecedented levels of stress, anxiety, and depression, whereby navigating through these difficulties is not always instinctive. Moreover, educational institutions worldwide are struggling to meet the demands of students who need support transitioning to university life and early adulthood.
Faced with a pressing obligation to help students cope with the mounting number of societal stressors, McGill Faculty of Education experts have launched the Education for Mental Health Resilience (EMHR) Office, tasked with the mission of leveraging education and pedagogy to support mental health and well-being in educational settings. Since its inception in 2020, the EMHR Office has developed and continues to oversee a collection of projects, programming, and partnerships aimed at promoting education for mental health resilience.
The EMHR Approach
The EMHR approach is to rely on evidence or research-based insights, then develop quality educational materials for target audiences using internationally recognized best practices. Led by experts in educational and counselling psychology, McGill's Faculty of Education is bolstering mental health resilience through inclusive education by empowering individuals to develop stress-management coping skills and responsible self-care. The goal is twofold:
- Provide youth with evidence-based strategies for improved mental health to thrive in difficult circumstances.
- Offer wellness training to educators, advisors, and others who work with student populations
Current Projects
McGill+ : Adjustment to University Life and Transition
The Adjustment to University Life and Transition (AdULT) project is a three-year initiative which aims to support incoming undergraduate students’ successful adjustment to university life at McGill. With generous funding and support provided by the Rossy Foundation, this project involves collaboration between McGill’s Faculty of Education, Dean of Students, and Student Life and Learning. McGill+ was created as part of the AdULT project. McGill+ is a learning management system (LMS) embedded, self-guided resource providing information, evidence-based strategies, and direct students to campus services to support their transition through academic, social, adulting, general wellness, adjustment and adaptation domains of university life.
Supporting Emotion Regulation in Early Childhood
In collaboration with the David and Monica Gold Centre for Early Childhood Development, this project seeks to develop and disseminate digital multimedia resources for parents and early childhood educators to build capacity to effectively support emotion regulation (ER) in early childhood, with specific attention to neurodiverse development profiles. This three-year project will improve access to evidence-based strategies and research-backed tools to support the development of effective ER skills through a series of multimedia professional development packages featuring experts in early childhood development and education. By sharing these resources, we aim to build capacity and address common concerns for supporting ER during the critical developmental period of early childhood.
Regulating Emotions and Stress for pre-Service Teachers (RESST)
Regulating Emotions and Stress for pre-Service Teachers (RESST) is a multi-year, national initiative led by McGill’s Faculty of Education to address the need for stress management and well-being instruction within teacher education curricula. This initiative has been made possible with generous funding from the Rossy Foundation.
The RESST program aims to enhance the well-being of pre-service teachers (and their students) by providing them with research-based strategies for personal and classroom use. Developed through a comprehensive needs assessment and literature review, RESST has been rigorously evaluated and demonstrated efficacy with pre-service teachers at McGill University.
The newly Digitized RESST (D-RESST) program incorporates all original RESST content and materials, comprises four brief modules (available in English and French), and is offered in a standalone and self-paced format, allowing students to complete it independently.
