{"id":19421,"date":"2026-03-17T00:16:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T04:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mentalhealthcommission.ca\/?post_type=resource&#038;p=19421"},"modified":"2026-03-31T13:44:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T17:44:38","slug":"national-standard-for-mental-health-and-well-being-for-post-secondary-students","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/resource\/national-standard-for-mental-health-and-well-being-for-post-secondary-students\/","title":{"rendered":"About The National Standard for Mental Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-is-the-standard\">What is the Standard? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/studentstandard\/\">CSA Z2003:20 National Standard of Canada for Mental Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students<\/a> \u2014 the first of its kind in the world \u2014 is a set of flexible, voluntary guidelines to help post-secondary institutions support the mental-health and well-being of their students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-does-the-standard-work\">How does the Standard work? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Standard is adaptable, so each post-secondary institution can decide what is achievable based on their situation, resources, and community context. And because it is grounded in a commitment to continuous improvement, each can determine its own priorities for improving student mental health and well-being over time, no matter where they start. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Standard can support your postsecondary institution to: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>raise awareness about mental health, and decrease stigma, <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>provide healthier and safer institutional environments, <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>improve opportunities for students to flourish. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-where-can-you-start\">Where can you start? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A <a href=\"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/resource\/starter-kit-for-the-national-standard-of-canada-for-mental-health-and-well-being-for-post-secondary-students\/\">Starter Kit<\/a> was created to help post-secondary institutions take their first steps in aligning with the Standard \u2014 in the COVID-19 context and beyond. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Watch <a href=\"https:\/\/mentalhealthcommission.ca\/resource\/promoting-and-strengthening-post-secondary-student-mental-health\/\">this video<\/a> for more information about the Standard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the Standard? The CSA Z2003:20 National Standard of Canada for Mental Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students \u2014 the first of its kind in the world \u2014 is a set of flexible, voluntary guidelines to help post-secondary institutions support the mental-health and well-being of their students. How does the Standard work? The Standard&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":92019,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[187,809],"tags":[],"program":[],"program-area":[132,154,162],"audience":[],"covid-hub-category":[],"health-canada":[834,831,847],"class_list":["post-19421","resource","type-resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posters","category-professional-resources","program-area-children-and-youth","program-area-inspire","program-area-national-standard-students","health-canada-professionals","health-canada-standards","health-canada-youth"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.3 (Yoast SEO v28.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>About The National Standard for Mental Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students - Mental Health Commission of Canada<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Standard can support your postsecondary institution to raise awareness about mental health, and decrease stigma; 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