About 20 years ago, Christel Call, Arts’71, and her husband Ron saw firsthand how isolating and overwhelming university life could be for a young relative facing serious mental-health challenges.
“There wasn’t a lot of support for mental illness back then, and there was also a lot of stigma attached to it,” remembers Christel.
It wasn’t easy watching their relative struggle. They felt helpless.
But instead of giving up, they found strength in action, creating the Call Family Fund for Wellness to support students at Queen’s facing similar mental-health issues.
Through this fund, their latest gift is helping launch Well100, a groundbreaking new course being introduced this fall by the Department of Psychology.
Open to any Queen’s undergraduate student, the credit course is an intro to the science and practice of well-being. Students will explore how stress works, the role of lifestyle factors such as sleep, fitness, and diet, and evidence-based strategies for managing stress. With a strong hands-on component, the course gives students the chance to practice techniques that support resilience and personal well-being.
For the Calls, the practicality of the course was a big reason to support it.
“We’re really hoping to provide students with tools to deal with the fast-changing environment of university life where stress sort of becomes a natural companion to achievement,” says Ron.
“It’s a challenging time, especially in that first year,” adds Christel. “There are a lot of changes, you’re living away from home. So, we really believe that a focus on well-being is key to students’ academic and personal success during that time.”
The Calls also say they like the multi-disciplinary focus of the new course.
Associate psychology professors Tim Salomons and Jeremy Stewart are leading the course and its content development, but the two have recruited a diverse panel of contributing faculty from across Queen’s. This includes experts from the Department of Psychiatry, Public Health, School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Employment Relations, School of Religion, Department of English Literature and Creative Writing, and Student Wellness Services.
The course is loosely modelled on a , but as the Calls point out, one main difference is that Well100 emphasizes students helping students.
“When students and young people can talk about their mental-health challenges with each other – and openly – that’s just so important,” says Christel. “That’s at the heart of the project, which started at Queen’s, and we think it’s key to addressing the stigma around mental health.”
One of the first initiatives the Calls supported at Queen’s through the Call Family Fund for Wellness was a summer intern peer educator through . This is a peer-to-peer program where Queen’s students lead a variety of health-based discussions in schools locally, nationally, and internationally. Twelve years later, the Calls are still funding that position.
The couple has also helped fund an embedded counsellor program in the Faculty of Arts and Science. This position helps expedite and facilitate counselling services for Arts and Science students in need of immediate support.
As for why the Calls have been so consistent with their support to Queen’s over the years, Christel says it’s partly personal.
“My time at Queen’s had such a positive impact on my life, and so I wanted to pay it forward and contribute in a small way to giving others the opportunity to have the same experience.
“I also think it’s important as alumni to do everything we can to maintain our reputation as a well-regarded university,” she adds.
That’s especially true now, says Ron.
“Given the last few years of funding challenges, it’s clear that universities need to become more independent of government,” he says. “And because we see education as a real leveller and as key to critical thinking and freedom of expression, we think it’s more important now than ever to step up.”
