"Even the darkest night will end, and the sun will rise." — Victor Hugo
January is Mental Health Awareness month at UFV, which is incredibly important as nearly 970 million people worldwide are currently living with mental illness. Now, more than ever we need to come together to share information and cultivate more compassion and kindness.
Mental wellness comes from feeling balanced, connected to others and ready to meet life's challenges. Mental wellness goes hand-in-hand with physical health. When you’re active, eat well, and get enough sleep, your emotional health can improve. Following healthy routines can help improve our self-esteem, mental function, and our resilience. In turn, feeling mentally well can boost our motivation to stick with and maintain healthy habits.
Social connections and friends and family play an important role in our mental wellness. Maintaining supportive and caring relationships lowers stress and reduces our risk of developing a mental health challenge.
Mental well-being impacts 100% of the workforce. We’re all in this together. Please know that your Human Resources team is here to help.
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Bell Let’s Talk Day is Wednesday, January 21, 2026. A new year brings new opportunities to support mental health and well-being, on and off campus. Let’s kick off a year of action for mental health and create real change together! |
| New Year, New Blog Series | |
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Stronger Everyday blog series: Our Health & Wellness team—Nancy Scarrow, Laurie Coreau, Stacie Dixon, and Tara Rozenek—are excited to launch a new blog series this year called Stronger Every Day. A space to build community, share tips, and resources to help you thrive in mind, body, and soul. We’d love this to be a collaborative, so we warmly invite you to participate. Keep an eye out for the first post! |
Upcoming Events at UFV:
Friday, January 9 - Community of Practice: Holistic Assessment | A space for dialogue on assessment practices that weave together Indigenous and western perspectives from 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Friday, January 16 - UFV Book Club: Exploring Outgrowing Modernity | Gather and engage with others in the UFV community to reflect on what’s needed to navigate higher education in the complexity of society today from 12:00-1:00 pm
If you are dealing or know someone who is dealing with a Mental health crisis:
Require immediate support? please consider accessing our Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP) through Homewood Health. They offer confidential resources and support for mental health, wellness, and other personal needs. You can reach them at:
- Website: https://homeweb.ca/en
- Phone: 1-800-663-1142
Additional emergency & after-hours support
- 988 (Text or call) Suicide Crisis Help Line 24/7
- 1-877-820-7444 - Fraser Health Crisis Line
- Here2Talk (text or call) 1-877-857-3397
How to get started: If you would like info about other community resources, please call 211 or visit BC 2-1-1
