This article mentions suicide.
A first-year UBC student recently created an app aimed at suicide prevention and mental health literacy.
Through the app, Bioscope Wellness, users can complete daily mental health check-ins, message others on chat boards and access educational resources and crisis lines, among other things.
Vrishank Saini, a neuroscience and computer science student, started developing the app in middle school when a classmate died by suicide.
“Although I could read statistics online and feel impacted, [when my classmate died] that's when I was hit with the reality of mental health and so I decided that I would create an app,” he told The Ubyssey.
Saini said he learned how to code specifically to create Bioscope Wellness. He also started contacting mental health professionals around Calgary — where he is from — albeit to limited success at first.
“First I went over email, and my response rate was like one for 100 so then I started volunteering at the Peter Lougheed Centre … and there's a bunch of medical professionals there and doctors [and] they're willing to connect with even volunteers.”
Information in the app continues to be reviewed by mental health experts — Saini recently returned to the Peter Lougheed Centre on a trip to Calgary and said an update based on his conversations there would be coming soon.
While Saini is still focused on helping his community in Calgary, he hopes that more UBC students use his app given the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. He also wants to expand the app’s reach to those from marginalized communities, such as BIPOC or Queer people.
At UBC, counselling services has seen an increase in the number of students making appointments during the pandemic.
According to UBC Chief Student Health Officer Noorjean Hassam, the university has seen a 30 per cent increase in appointments between September of last year and this year. In September 2021 alone, UBC received 1,200 phone calls from students. Counselling services usually receive 400 per month.
Hassam, along with UBC’s Health Promotion & Education co-directors Levonne Abshire and Kelly White, said the university had numerous programs and resources to accommodate student’s mental health needs.
This includes Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) training for suicide prevention, Mental Health Moment workshops and a new IBPOC Wellness Mentor program that offers peer support for IBPOC students.
“I feel like we do have a range of things based on what students want to learn a little bit more about, or increase their knowledge and skills in that area,” said White.
UBC has also hired faculty-specific counsellors for arts, engineering, land and food systems and medicine students, among others, Hassam said.
Being online isn’t all bad
All of Bioscope Wellness’s features are online, even those related to seeking assistance from counsellors like crisis lines and the built-in chat function.
Saini said one of the benefits of this online environment — in reference to the app’s chat boards — is that it’s “statistically shown to be more effective” in helping people talk about their mental health by lowering the barriers to reach out for help.
While Dr. Corey McAuliffe, a postdoctoral research fellow in the School of Nursing, didn’t disagree with Saini, she said the difference between talking online and in-person is more “context specific.”
“It also depends on the context of what that person is looking for and if they potentially don't want to be seen, and if they want to remain anonymous, a chat function can be really helpful. There's also positives for being able to see someone, even if it's just like … an online modality [like Zoom],” she said.
“I don't view it as something that's better than something else.”
McAuliffe added that who people go to to talk about their mental health — whether that be a friend, counsellor or psychiatrist — depends on their situation.
She recommended that students be supportive and to not “solve their problems” when checking in on their friends’ or peers’ mental wellbeing
“When people are feeling very overwhelmed and distressed and really challenged, the last thing you want to do [is] mak[e] extra work for them. And so, really, offering ways in which you can be supportive and helpful and that you're open and willing to listen.”
Saini echoed McAuliffe’s comments.
“Merely saying, ‘How are you?’ to a friend or classmate isn't enough … we think that that's a form of reaching out but really it isn't, you want to really break down into their genuine thoughts and emotions,” he said.
If you or a friend or family member need support, consider accessing these resources:
BC Crisis Support Line: https://crisiscentre.bc.ca/ | 1.800.784.2433
Free and 24/7 access to counselors: https://here2talk.ca/home | 1.877.857.3397
UBC Counselling: https://students.ubc.ca/health/counselling-services | 604.822.3811
AMS Peer Support: https://www.ams.ubc.ca/student-services/peer-support/
IBPOC Wellness Mentor: https://students.ubc.ca/health/wellness-centre/ibpoc-wellness-mentors
Other UBC resources: https://students.ubc.ca/health