Student Expectations

Courses offered at the Hope Learning Centre are intended to be educational. Our Facilitators and Peer Supporters are not therapists, and our courses are not a substitute for therapy. Instead, we encourage students to come together in a positive, safe environment to learn and be part of our growing community.

We hope this is a useful and supportive place for all our students. If you feel like you are in crisis, please use a crisis line to speak to a mental health professional one-on-one.

Crisis Lines

For Saskatchewan residents: Call 1-306-757-0127
For those in other Canadian Provinces Call: 1-866-585-0445
OR Text WELLNESS to 686868 for youth, and for adults text WELLNESS to 741741

Expectations

• Zero Tolerance:
  The Hope Learning Centre has a Zero Tolerance policy for disruptive and disrespectful behavior. Facilitators will give disruptive students a warning if they feel the student's behavior is not acceptable. If the behavior continues, disruptive students will be asked to leave the course. If you are asked to leave you will not recieve a certificate and, for paid for workshops, a refund will not be issued. Please ensure you are respectful and considerate of the facilitators and your fellow students.
  
  
• Confidentiality:
  We ask that students keep what they hear, see, and discuss in our courses private in respect of their fellow students. Do Not Record your classes.
  
  
• Kindness and Acceptance:
  We promote a safe place for students and staff to work and learn together. Rude or disrespectful behaviour will not be tolerated. Students who cannot adhere to this rule will first be given a private warning in ZOOM Chat (or in the classroom), and if the behaviour persists, a second verbal warning will be given. If the behaviour continues after these two warnings, you will be asked to leave the class
  
  
• Stay Recovery Focused:
  Sharing is always encouraged, and hearing each other’s unique experiences is important. However, we ask that students keep their shares on topic.
  
  
• The Right to Pass:
  All students have the right to choose not to share.
  
  
• Webcams and Zoom:
  Students are not required to have their cameras turned on for class. Still, we encourage students to improve connections and foster stronger relationships with the Facilitators and their fellow students by having their cameras on.
  
  
• We foster a learning environment:
  Some of the information we share in our courses may be very helpful, while other information may not apply to you. Please be considerate of others, as we all have different learning experiences.
  
  
• Be mindful of what you share:
  Remember that your shares may affect others in the class. Sensitive subject matter may be difficult for others in the class to hear.
  
  
• Come in with an open mind:
  You will be presented with many different ideas and perspectives, do your best to be open and accepting of new and old ideas.
  
  
• This is not intended to replace therapeutic conversation or connection with mental health support.

House Keeping Rules

• Please come to your classes 5 to 10 minutes early. You will be let in from the Zoom waiting room before the class starts. This is the same for In-Person classes.
  
  
• Please MUTE yourself when not speaking.
  
  
• It’s your choice about your camera being on or off – but we encourage you to leave cameras on to build a sense of community and show others you are listening if you want to turn the camera off to eat or go to the bathroom, that is okay.
  
  
• No smoking, vaping, drug use, or alcohol in the classroom or on camera.
  
  
• Use the Chat Box for comments or questions that don’t need an immediate response.  We want to keep on track, but we don’t want to ignore your concerns. You can message to All or privately message just the HOPE LC facilitators. 
  
  
• To keep courses to the scheduled 1.5 to 2-hour time limit, there will be no formal break, but students are free to move around at home. Classes 3 hours or more will have a break scheduled.
  
  
• You always have the right to pass, but the more participation in the class, the better the experience is for everyone. Sharing is usually where the best learning experiences come from!

Confidentiality

The Hope Learning Centre is committed to our student’s safety, trust and peace of mind. As such, confidentiality is a key ingredient to that commitment. Students are not permitted to record any of their classes for this reason. We also ask that the names of fellow students and their shared experiences stay in the classroom. Please do not discuss what fellow students have shared in your classes.

Students can discuss course material, exercises, or other helpful information they have learned in our classes. We ask that you be mindful of your fellow students and never disclose any of their information in these conversations.

Your Facilitators will always be mindful of this confidentiality agreement and will not share information from class. The only exception to this rule will be if a student has expressed intent to harm himself or herself or someone else. In this case, a Facilitator may need assistance from other support services, and student information may need to be provided to ensure the student’s safety.

Cancellations

Free HLC Courses

Space is limited, so we ask that you only register if you intend to be present for all classes of your course.

If you register for a class but later realize you will not be able to attend, you can easily cancel your registration. In the "Details" section below, where you first registered for the class, you will see the following text:

"You are already registered for this event"

Followed by a button that says:  "Cancel Registration."

Please just click the "Cancel Registration"  button, and you will be removed from the registration list.

If, for whatever reason, you do not see the "Cancel Registration" button, please email the Hope Learning Centre at HopeLC@cmhask.com and tell us your name, email address, and the course you would like to be removed from. One of our staff will manually remove you from the registration list.

Paid-For Certificate Workshops

Cancellation of our Certificate courses is also available, but you must email the Hope Learning Centre program director at: DirectorHLC@cmhask.com.

You will be given two options for Certificate workshops. If you can no longer attend the date you registered for, but still wish to attend the same Certificate Workshop at another time, your registration will be transferred to the new date by our program director. There are no additional fees, and you will be sent a new registration email with the details of this new Certificate Workshop date.

If you do not wish to attend the Certificate Workshop you have registered for, and instead would like the Hope Learning Centre to refund your purchase amount, please indicate this in your email to the program director. Refunds will be processed within 5 business days and issued to your original payment method.

The Hope Learning Centre will retain a small processing fee from your original purchase. This is to cover the costs of the online payment processing system we use, which is Stripe. The fees we will retain are as follows:

SafeTalk Processing Fee - $5.00
C.A.R.E. Program Processing Fee - $5.00
Mental Health First Aid Processing Fee - $10.00
ASIST Processing Fee - $10.00
Difficult Discussions Processing Fee - $50.00
Psychological Health & Safety Processing Fee - $100.00

These fees take into account the percentage the Hope Learning Centre is charged by Stripe both at the time of purchase and at the time of the refund. We apologize for the inconvenience. If we did not retain these fee amounts, we would incur a significant loss for every refund we process.

Cancellations Issued by the Hope Learning Centre

Occasionally, the Hope Learning Centre may have to cancel a Free HLC Course, or Certificate Workshop. This typically only occurs if there are too few registered participants for the class to proceed.

For Free HLC Courses, a cancellation notice will be sent to registered students 1 or 2 days before the start date of the class. Students who wish to have their registration transferred to the next available course date should send their request to: HopeLC@cmhask.com. A Hope Learning Centre staff member will happily transfer the registration and send a new confirmation email to the student.

For Paid-For Certificate Workshops, we will contact registered participants as soon as it appears likely that the Workshop will not be able to proceed. This should typically be 1 to 4 days before the Workshop date. Low registration is the only reason the Hope Learning Centre will cancel a Certificate workshop. There are minimum student requirements for all of our Certificate Workshops. Those requirements are as follows:

SafeTalk Minimum Student Requirement - 8 participants
C.A.R.E. Minimum Student Requirement - 8 participants
Mental Health First Aid Minimum Student Requirement - 8 participants
ASISTMinimum Student Requirement - 10 participants
Difficult Discussions Minimum Student Requirement - 16 participants
Psychological Health & Safety Minimum Student Requirement - 16 participants

There may be some exceptions to these minimums if we receive a cancellation on the training day and arrangements have already been made for the Workshop to run.

If the Hope Learning Centre must cancel a Certificate workshop, participants can transfer their registration to another Certificate Workshop date or receive a refund. If a refund is requested, the processing fee will be halved to accommodate the workshop's cancellation by the Hope Learning Centre.

What is a Recovery College?

A Recovery College can be described as a unique learning centre where people with lived experience of mental health issues, peers, family members and mental health professionals use their knowledge and experience to work collaboratively and on equal terms to co-develop and co-deliver courses on a range of topics that support well-being and recovery (Perkins, Repper, Rinaldi, & Brown 2012).

A Recovery College is a place of self-discovery where people come together to gain knowledge, learn new skills, and explore new roles for themselves in a supportive environment. Here a “student” is not a passive recipient of information or advice; they are actively engaged, valued and empowered within a culture of mutual respect. A Recovery College is a learning environment where people with lived experience are equal partners in developing and delivering learning opportunities that open the door to new aspirations and personal growth. Recovery Colleges offer a new way to support recovery and can be transformative for both individuals and organizations. Within the Recovery College model, there is a focus on bringing together the expertise of both professionals and people with lived experience in a process of co-production, co-delivery and co-learning.

Who Are Recovery Colleges For?

One of the key features of Recovery Colleges is that they are open to anyone. This includes people with lived experience of mental health or substance use issues, family members, peers, friends and other supporters as well as community members, and people who work in a professional role in mental health.

There have been a number of benefits identified by students, primarily people with lived experience and staff/professionals, based on this mixed student group learning model offered at a Recovery College. Some of the ways in which students benefitted from the diverse student group included: learning new knowledge, reduced stigma, decreased isolation, increase in hopefulness and empathy, and enhanced understanding of others’ perspectives and recovery (Meddings, Guglietti, Lambe, & Byrne, 2014; Perkins Ridler, Hammond, Davis & Hackmann, 2017).

A recent review by Toney and colleagues (2018) aimed at discovering how Recovery Colleges work and benefit people, suggests that four specific sub-groups of people who use mental health services may particularly benefit from the Recovery College model:

• People who may be early on in their recovery and could benefit from the support and guidance in making choices
  
  
• Those who find it challenging to engage in any mental health services and who may benefit from the warm welcome of a College
  
  
• Those who have high self-stigma are likely to benefit from exposure to peer trainers
  
  
• People whose social connectedness is limited to formal services and who would benefit from meeting others outside of that context (Toney et al., 2018)

Why Do We Need Recovery Colleges?

The main aim of Recovery Colleges is to provide an opportunity for people to discover their true potential; to use their life experience in positive ways to promote their recovery and to be able to share that knowledge and expertise for the benefit of others in the community.

Recovery Colleges fill a gap in current service delivery models and structures. People living with mental health and substance use issues have long sought an environment where they are viewed and respected as whole individuals, not “broken” beings needing to be fixed. The Recovery College environment is different in that respect right from the outset. There is a belief that every student has strengths, capabilities and aspirations; the approaches taken within the College support that belief. The College process and environment assists students in finding and bolstering their strengths and leveraging them to achieve meaningful personal goals.

How Do We Measure Success?

There are 6 Critical Dimensions for a Successful Recovery College:

COMMUNITY FACING
There is active engagement with community organizations and mainstream education facilities in the local community and an emphasis on partnership working.

EDUCATIONAL
Based on educational principles and a co-produced, recovery-focused curriculum with each student having an individual learning plan based on their wishes and aspirations. Students choose the courses they are interested in attending. Not referral-based.

COLLABORATIVE
Based on co-production in all facets of their operation, curriculum and course development, co-facilitation and co-learning that brings together lived, life, professional and subject expertise.

STRENGTHS-BASED AND PERSON-CENTRED
The strengths, skills, qualities and possibilities for staff and students are identified, built upon and rewarded. For both students and staff, achievements, strengths, skills and qualities are identified, built upon and rewarded.

PROGRESSIVE
Actively support students to move on in their lives, to achieve their own identified goals and explore possibilities outside services.

INCLUSIVE
Recovery Colleges welcome students of all types, cultures, abilities and educational achievements. There are no diagnostic requirements or exclusions and no formal risk assessment. They also welcome mental health practitioners, other mental health staff, relatives, friends, carers and people in the local community and are free to all. Everyone learns together and from each other.

From Perkins R., Meddings, S., Williams, S., & Reppter, J. (2018). Recovery Colleges 10 Years On, Nottingham, ImROC. P.5