UWindsor offers staff training to identify, support students with complex mental health issues

The University of Windsor is offering employees training in mental health care. It's not for their benefit, but for that of the students they come into contact with at the southwestern Ontario school.

Dr. Tanuj Sharma is a third-year psychiatry resident with the Schulich School of Medicine.

He's leading school staff through training on identifying and handling complex mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia — and how to connect with students experiencing these conditions.

Sharma spoke with CBC Radio's Windsor Morning host Amy Dodge. Here's part of their conversation.

What's the focus of what you will be telling participants?

The focus is to draw attention on mental health conditions that transitional youth face, and to help staff identify transitional youth in distress and to connect them with resources on campus. 

We want to kind of intervene and have sort of like a circuit breaker.- Dr. Tanuj Sharma 

And some students with these conditions may not be diagnosed. What are some of the signs and symptoms to be looking out for? 

My presentation will be focusing on substance-induced psychosis as well as schizophrenia. 

And quite often, especially in transitional youth, there are prodromal symptoms that are present. 

They could be things like social isolation, a drop in grades, just unusual thoughts that they've never had before. 

So having discussions about being able to recognize this and having a discussion about this is quite important as a lot of mental health conditions typically begin in childhood and in adolescence. 

We want to kind of intervene and have sort of like a circuit breaker, in essence, to kind of address these issues as quickly as we can. 

What can be done if we see symptoms in someone? How can we come alongside someone and help them? 

I think the first thing is to understand your blind spots, and I think this is a great initiative to do that. 

The second thing is just to keep an open mind and ask a lot of questions. Don't assume anything. Keep an open mind. Connect with that individual's family doctor. If they're comfortable with that just try to help that individual find resources in the community. 

We have the transitional stability centre through Hôtel-Dieu, your hospital. They have a crisis program that you can contact. 

There are a lot of community organizations within Windsor. We have a wellness program for extended psychosis at Hôtel-Dieu hospital, but there's also the emergency room, if you ever feel like somebody is at risk to themselves or to others. 

The first episode psychosis program is called Early Intervention and is located at the local chapter of the Canadian Mental Heath Association.

What can be done to support someone with a complex mental illness when we know someone has that? 

There are systemic things that we can do. 

Quite often, people with schizophrenia, for instance, need complex care in all facets of their life.

So helping them find meaningful employment, having them meet with their physician regularly, having them meet with social worker support workers. 

It's a tribe. It's a village that takes care of these people. It's not one simple solution, unfortunately. 

What are some of the misconceptions people have about schizophrenia? 

I think quite often with a lot of mental health illnesses, people believe that meaningful life cannot be achieved in any way, and that's not true. 

A lot of people with mental health issues still have autonomy over their house. They can still make decisions. They have passions. They have goals. 

As a psychiatrist, it's my duty to help these individuals optimize all aspects of their life so they feel like they're living a meaningful life. 

How big of an issue is this on campus where we have people who have a mental diagnosis but aren't getting the support they need? 

This initiative that they're holding reflects University of Windsor's desire to draw awareness to mental health issues and to foster an environment of resilience through talking about trauma, through talking about systemic issues. 

It may be an issue on campus, but they are doing things to address it by having mental health initiatives like this. 

Why do you feel this is important training to offer people working at the university? 

I think quite often we can go through life with blinders on and just taking a moment to talk to a student or talk to a colleague who may be struggling with something can be quite transformative for them.

Helping individuals recognize symptoms and maybe by the recognition of these symptoms, they can kind of guide someone to resources available to them, can be quite helpful and will make a healthier campus, hopefully.