Written by: Serena Bains, Staff Writer
Originally launched in August 2018, the mental health application was created in partnership with the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) to address the mental health needs of students outside of office hours, off campus, and on short notice. The app surpassed the initial targets set and was renewed as a result.
Since My SSP’s launch “over 14,400 hours of clinical support were provided for more than 2,800 students,” according to Braden McMillan on SFU News. 70% of the clinical support provided occurred outside of regular office hours.
The application has four features: a news feed of tweets from Health & Counselling Services, an explore page of articles regarding how to manage one’s health, assessments for depression, anxiety, drug, and alcohol use, and text and call functions for students to speak to a clinical counsellor. The assessments do not diagnose students, rather they recommend that a student use the call function if necessary. Each feature is available in six different languages, with additional languages by request.
Students are also able to request counsellors according to their religious or gender preferences. The future iterations of the application are planned to include services specifically tailored to Black students and members of the LGBTQ2+ community.
