Visions Journal

Navigating student well-being supports

Gabrielle Foo

Reprinted from the The Vibes Are Off: Young People, Anxiety and Depression issue of Visions Journal, 2025, 21 (1), pp. 20-21

Nobody really expects it to happen to them. I certainly didn’t. I thought the gradual decline of my mood and increasing lethargy were just that—natural but occasional consequences of being in a high-pressure educational system. The Singaporean educational system is admired and infamous for being challenging. I thought I would eventually emerge from my funk.

Spoiler alert: I didn’t. 

What initially started as having trouble getting out of bed, taking longer naps during the day and feeling irritable and emotionally volatile spiralled into something much bigger that would ultimately change the course of my (young) life. After missing several weeks of school, I received a diagnosis of major depressive disorder. 

Coping without supportive structures

I started on a treatment plan but still struggled to meet the demands of school. I ended up withdrawing completely with only one year left to graduate, which was a huge blow. I’d always prided myself on being a dedicated student while maintaining a fulfilling social life and extra-curricular activities. Over the next two years, I was hospitalized several times for suicide attempts, cycled through various medications and attended countless counselling sessions. 

To this day, I can’t pinpoint exactly what triggered my depression. I suspect it was a complex combination of childhood, family, biology and, of course, school issues. Growing pains and general anxieties, like thinking about the future, relationship issues, academic stress and questions of identity are perfectly normal and almost expected in youth. This doesn’t mean we can ignore them and wait them out. Sometimes they resolve with time and patience, but in cases like mine (and others), they deserve extra attention. 

My junior college never offered counselling services, a mental health curriculum or any mental wellness awareness programs that I knew of. That wasn’t abnormal. And any absences required a doctor’s note. I distinctly remember taking a day off school when I was 16 because I was feeling particularly emotionally unwell—I regretted it later while sitting in the doctor’s office, then paying their consultation fee. The only supports I received after my diagnosis were offers to extend assignment deadlines or take a year’s leave. 

Mental health was and is a taboo topic back home. People echo that “it’s OK to not be OK,” but it’s hard to say whether that translates into school or work culture. 

Testing out a new environment

I have the utmost gratitude for my support system: my family, team of psychiatrists and psychologists, and friends. Their patience is why I’m able to write this now, almost seven years after my diagnosis, and from a completely different perspective. After the roller coaster of working towards recovery, I boarded a plane to Vancouver in 2021 and resumed my educational journey. 

I still wondered: what more could have been done to support me when I was struggling in school? Could so much anguish have been avoided if more support had been in place? Would there ever be a place where stories like mine matter to school administrators, faculty and staff?

Students need to know they are so much more than their grades, involvement in student clubs or number of internships. They also need to know: 

• It’s OK to take additional years to graduate
• Their lives aren’t over because of a misstep they made in school 
• They don’t have to wait until things get absolutely unbearable to seek support; they need to be reminded of this constantly, until they’re able to feel it on an emotional level 
• They won’t be penalized for seeking help 
• Exactly where and who to approach if they want support

Young people also need to feel like the higher-ups in administration are aware and genuinely dedicated to their well-being.

Knowing support is there

I’ve had the fortune to attend UBC without needing to use wellness support systems, such as Early Alert, the Centre for Accommodations or academic concessions. But I have friends who’ve benefited from them. Thankfully, I can access a student insurance plan that covers counselling appointments. 

In almost all my psychology courses, I’ve found the professors to be wonderfully empathetic and understanding of student struggles. Just being aware that these resources exist, should I ever need them or want to suggest them to friends, is a great relief. 

Action for campus well-being

My time as a health communications assistant with the Healthy Minds | Healthy Campuses (HM|HC) team has been a wonderful opportunity to be involved on the other side of student mental wellness. One of my biggest takeaways is to have witnessed such experienced and competent professionals collaborating on ways to improve mental well-being in educational institutions. 

HM|HC’s programs and biennial summit offer Canadian professionals a chance to trade and discuss ideas of what has worked, or not worked, at their institutions. From peer listening programs to tailored mental health campaigns targeted at trades students, I’ve been reassured that faculty and staff are noticing and addressing these stories. 

Mental health support should not be performative. It is the backbone of student wellness. While students may not always have the solutions or capacity to implement large-scale change, their voices need to be heard and listened to. Their stories matter. Our stories matter. 

If anything in my story resonates with you, or if you feel not quite like yourself, please remember: you, as a person, are so much more than your struggles, and you have allies out there waiting to meet you.