Building Mental Wellness Capacity in First-Year Engineering Students

The “First-Year Seminar Series” was developed in response to the current mental health crisis in engineering programs. The series includes 22 targeted interventions designed to build mental wellness capacity and life-long learning skills in first-year engineering students at a large Canadian university by integrating mental health and wellness education directly into the required curriculum. Research-informed best practices were used to optimize effectiveness and content retention. Quantitative and qualitative student feedback was collected. Results suggest that students generally perceived the seminar content as moderately useful/applicable, but only slightly engaging. Qualitative feedback identified specific areas for improvement including incorporating additional interactive activities and reinforcing the applicability of non-technical content. We anticipate that the seminar series contributed positively to students’ mental health. By embedding mental health education into the core curriculum, the Schulich School of Engineering is fostering a culture of wellness and supporting the next generation of resilient engineers.