ETS | A guardian angel at the university

To prevent psychological distress among students – on the rise since the pandemic – the École de technologie supérieure has hired a local worker who acts as a bridge between young people and support services. The Press followed him for an afternoon.

Rose* is seated in front of the speaker Kevin Phaneuf, who listens attentively.

The student shares her recent frustrations with him like a friend.

“When I have a problem, I’ll talk to Kevin about it, and we’ll find a solution,” she says.

In his office, there is no leather chair. Students do not have to fill out a form at the entrance. They come through the door at any time of the day to talk to him about their worries, big or small.

Since September, the École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) has been hiring an outreach worker – a service that is unusual in universities.

Its role: to integrate into the student community in order to facilitate access to support services.

Think of the special educators in secondary schools… but with a university clientele. (Kevin Phaneuf himself worked for years in the school network.)

To achieve this, Kevin Phaneuf spends his days with the students. He is interested in their school projects, participates in their barbecue, plays volleyball at lunchtime with them.

The guardian angel of ÉTS is him.

“My office is almost incidental. The majority of my interventions, no matter where you are in the school and you have a problem, you write to me and I go there, ”he says.

Front line service

“Student life services have wanted to set up a local intervention service for a long time,” explains Sarah Décarie-Daigneault.

Last winter, the establishment received a financial boost from Bell Let’s Talk and the Rossy Foundation, which enabled it to finally set up the new resource.

The hiring of Kevin Phaneuf is timely. Since the pandemic, the needs are even greater.

Between 2020-2021 and 2021-2022, the psychological support service observed a 50% increase in the number of students who asked for help.

The increase in demand was particularly marked in the winter of 2022: the number of consultations jumped 130% compared to the average of the previous three years for the same period.

More worrying: the level of distress is also higher.

During the interview, Kevin Phaneuf slips away for a few minutes. A student has just written to him. She is not well.

Front-line service is also part of his job. When a young person is in an emotional crisis, they are usually the ones who are called. Students can also contact him at any time. Even at night and on weekends.

“Once I was in a crisis and he answered me at 7 a.m.,” says Rose. In urgent cases, Kevin Phaneuf “welcomes the distress and assesses whether there is a suicidal risk”.

M^me Décarie-Daigneault estimates that at least 15% of students who seek psychological support have suicidal thoughts.

“Students often arrive very distressed. When they ask for help, they are flat,” she says. Hence the importance, she argues, of prevention.

Prevention

Kevin Phaneuf goes down to the basement of the building. He has a date with the university’s competitive video game club.

In order to improve their performance, the students in charge of the club surveyed their members on their lifestyles.

Result: many of them do not sleep enough, eat poorly and spend too much time on social networks.

“I can’t fall asleep without a video,” says a student. “I’m exactly like you,” replied another.

The atmosphere is relaxed.

Between two jokes, Kevin Phaneuf explains to them the mechanism of addiction and suggests that they put them in contact with a nutritionist. The goal: raise students’ awareness through prevention activities and refer them to the right resources when needed.

But they may confide in a familiar face.

“Going to the school’s psychological help service is scary. There, we are in a club with people you trust, ”says Sébastien Hirth.

“All the difference”

Before the arrival of Kevin Phaneuf, Rose “cried every week”. She consulted a psychologist, but it was not the same.

“The intervention in the environment, I think that makes all the difference. That’s what we need, someone on the floor who understands our reality as students. »

*To protect the confidentiality of her discussion with Kevin Phaneuf, Rose is identified only by her first name.