Student Health and Wellness
Your physical and mental health is very important and will help you achieve your academic and career goals. Northern Lights College is committed to supporting the health and well-being of its students to create a healthy and safe learning environment—the College is an advocate for healthy lifestyles.
The keep.meSAFE Mental Wellness Student Support Program provides all Northern Lights College students access to a large, diverse network of professional counsellors where students unique circumstances can be matched with a counsellor who understands these experiences, in the preferred language and preferred culture of the student.
While attending college can be an amazing time of new experiences and great opportunity to explore new ideas. Dealing with feelings of Anxiety and Stress being some of the top reasons, students may also seek support for reasons such as:
- Procrastination and building time management skills
- Anxiety about a public speaking assignment
- Nutrition concerns
- Worries about upcoming exams or disappointment with academic performance
- Stress due to financial challenges
- Concern about postgraduation plans
- Loneliness or homesickness
- Difficulty adjusting to life in another country
- Suicidal ideation
- Tensions with family members, friends, or roommate
All Northern Lights College students can access this diverse 24/7 support by:
Downloading the My SSP app (available from the App store / Google Play) or
Visiting the website at myssp.app/keepmesafe/ea/home
Mental Health and Addictions (Northern Health)
Crisis Lines
- Northern BC 24 Hour Crisis and Information Line: 1-888-562-1214
- BC Suicide Hotline: 1-800-SUICIDE / 1-800-784-2433
- Crisis Chat: (open noon-1 a.m. daily)
Sexual Violence Community Resources
- Resource List
- should you wish to disclose or report sexual violence or misconduct please refer to the Sexual Violence and Misconduct policy.
Please browse the following health and wellness information and resources.
Emotional Wellness
Struggling with anxiety? Tired of missing out? There are things you can do to stop anxiety and fear from controlling your life. MindShift is an app designed to help teens and young adults cope with anxiety. It can help you change how you think about anxiety. Rather than trying to avoid anxiety, you can make an important shift and face it.
Stress can occur when a person faces a challenging situation and thinks they may not be able to overcome it. A person’s reaction is grounded in their how they look at the situation. This website deals with coping methods for stress and offers a wide range of resources for youth in B.C. http://youthinbc.com/youth-issues-2/stress/
If you're worried about yourself, you may not know what to do next. Here, you'll take charge of your mental health and support your journey to wellness. http://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/
Discover how to cope with stress and work through stress exercises. A free online screening tool/questionnaire designed to help identify experiences related to stress. http://mindcheck.ca/mood-stress/stress-check
HeadsUpGuys is a resource for supporting men in their fight against depression by providing tips, tools, information about professional services, and stories of success.
Learn how to take care of your mental health. Get the facts about mental illness. Find help for yourself or others. http://www.cmha.ca/
Healthy Eating
A free tool to help people lose weight by counting calories and tracking physical activity levels. https://www.myfitnesspal.com/.
A free tool that helps you to count and budget calories, plan meals, factor in exercise, and lose weight at a safe, sustainable pace. http://www.loseit.com/.
Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/index-eng.php.
Campus life is crazy and stressful and ridiculous, but that doesn’t mean you can just eat whatever you want. Plus, this can actually be a great time to start eating healthier foods if you don’t already. 33 Healthy Eating Habits College Students Will Appreciate.
Help with quitting smoking
Did you know that it takes more than will power to quit smoking? It takes skills and support, as well as your own motivation to quit. The new Quit4Life (Q4L) handbook can help you to quit smoking... for life.
Quit smoking in your own way, in your own time. QuitNow helps you make the plan that's right for you, and provides the support you need to see it through.
There are many reasons why you may want to quit smoking. You may worry about your health, you may be concerns about how second-hand smoke is harming those around you, or you may feel that your tobacco use is costing more and more. Whatever your reason, it is always a good time to quit. http://www.healthlinkbc.ca/healthfeatures/smoking-cessation.html
More Apps/Games
Breathe2Relax
A portable stress management tool that allows users to record their stress levels and guides them through diaphragmatic breathing exercises to help reduce stress.
Flowy
iOS and Android app that digitally delivers controlled breathing exercises through game play to help manage panic attack symptoms of panic, hyperventilation and anxiety.
HealthyMinds
A mood tracker, breathing trainer, goal tracker, stress management platform, and journal all rolled into one convenient package.
Serenita (Facebook link)
This iOS and Android application is a stress & focus management app designed to teach users how to relieve stress & increase focus in their daily lives.
Mental Workout
This developer offers apps for Android and iOS that helps users manage stress, practice mindful meditation, quit smoking and sleep better. Most apps have a free lite version and a paid full version.
PTSD Coach
An app from the Government of Canada to help PTSD sufferers learn about and manage symptoms that can occur after trauma.
Features include:
- Reliable information on PTSD and treatments that work
- Tools for screening and tracking your symptoms
- Convenient, easy-to-use tools to help you handle stress symptoms
- Direct links to support and help
Relax Melodies
Available on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone this app helps people dealing with sleep deprivation or difficulty falling asleep get a good night’s rest. Select sounds and melodies that you like and combine them to create a soothing mix to help carry you off to sleep.
Thanks for visiting, and remember, we’re in this together!
If you have an additional resource for this page, or a suggestion for health and wellness event or fun sporting activity that you would like to see implemented at the College, we encourage you to email us: learningsupport@nlc.bc.ca.