Mental health

Giovanni Williams in a beige T-shirt, black jeans and white sneakers, sitting on a black wooden bench under a panelled ceiling that slopes down to the floor at the middle right of the photo. He is smiling and facing off camera, with his shoulders hunched and his forearms resting on his thighs. Several fluorescent tubes are placed along the wall at the far end of the bench, giving off a neon yellow light.

The Change They Want

Winning over people to your cause is not easy. As these students discovered, it helps to have a personal – and persuasive – message

Black and white closeup of Chen Yang looking at the camera

From Anxiety to Action

U of T students are collaborating with faculty on research that could improve the mental health of youth worldwide

Collage of parts of the face of people from different races and a small, seated figure with a bent head coloured in black

Blurring the Blue Line

Student Rachel Bromberg and alum Asante Haughton are helping to create a response service for mental health crisis calls in Toronto that relies less on police

Back profile of a police person as they face blazing fire in the background

Eliminating Excessive Force

U of T Mississauga professor Judith Andersen’s training techniques improve police performance in tense situations. The challenge: getting police to use them

Who Cares for the Caregivers?

There is a steep personal cost to caregiving, from chronic stress to physical injury. How can we help those who minister to family and friends?

Laura Alary holds a mala as she thinks about the specific things she's grateful for in her life

How to Be Grateful

When I was battling depression, it was a small moment that helped me begin to find my way out

Kate Scowan sits at her kitchen table

Help Through the Darkness

The wait-lists for publicly funded therapy are long. Kate Scowen devised a way for people to receive low-cost counselling sooner

Photo of Kyla Fox

A Prisoner No More

My eating disorder felt like a life sentence. Now recovered, I help other people overcome theirs

U of T students Alex Boross-Harmer (left) and Megan D’Souza at the new Mental Health and Physical Activity Research Centre

Lift Weights to Lift Mood

U of T opens one of the first research facilities in the world to integrate the study of physical activity and mental health

Group photo of fitness co-ordinator Laurie Wright, project co-ordinator Ryan Howes, and career counsellor Ruth Louden

Healthy Minds

As U of T responds to a rise in mental health needs on campus, a powerful source of help emerges: students themselves

Photo of Michael Wilson

A Canadian Hero for Mental Health

Twenty years ago, Michael Wilson witnessed the terrible impact of stigma around mental illness. He’s been working tirelessly to erase it ever since

Photo of a doctor with a mobile phone.

Healthy City

How can we improve the health of some of the city's most vulnerable residents?

Image from Grey Matter film poster, depicting the back profile of the director looking at a flag with red, yellow and green colours running vertically

U of T’s World Wide Web

The university’s scholars are collaborating with partners in every region of the globe to answer questions that challenge us all

Rose Harrison in her Yonge and Eglinton apartment

Housing First

It turns out that a good way to help homeless people is to actually give them a home

Bailey Vaez

Stress Buster

How personal changes led Bailey Vaez to promote wellness at work

Illustration of people under a tree in the light with an individual who is sad directly under the tree in opposite colours.

Peace of Mind

A U of T project aims to bring better mental health to a country where most illnesses go untreated

Illustration of a face made of puzzle pieces.

Mind Games

Doctors have been trying for decades to classify mental illnesses. So why do precise definitions still elude us?

The Lover

And then the lover, sighing like furnace with a woeful ballad

The Sixth Age

The sixth age shifts into the lean and slippered Pantaloon, with spectacles on nose and pouch on side