HALIFAX, NS— For students who take advantage of Dalhousie’s insurance policies, therapy coverage will no longer be available during the winter semester.
Felicity Galman, a spokesperson for the university, spoke to The Mackerel about the bold decision.
“In unprecedented times like these, Dalhousie administration is incredibly aware of the toll taken on students’ mental health. To address this, we have gone ahead and eliminated coverage for all mental health counseling. Instead, we’ve invested in increasing the quality—and more importantly, the quantity—of mental health check-up emails sent to students,” explained Galman.
“In the interest of transparency, a large portion of the reallocated funds went to ensuring that these emails are ending up in the inboxes of students, and not in spam folders” she continued.
Natalie Korsh, a third-year pre-med student expressed her thoughts on the matter, she said, “Honestly, this is the news I’ve needed. I have struggled with my mental health throughout online school, and therapy didn’t seem to be helping. On my tougher days, nothing improved morale more than a Dalhousie mental health check-in.”
“I really hope more insurance companies follow this trajectory going forward. I’ve always planned to become a psychiatrist if I get accepted to medical school. Now, knowing my career could consist of typing up a generic email every couple of weeks instead of actually meeting with clients? That’s the dream!” she continued.