Parr Centre for Thriving
Message from the Vice-Provost (Students)
Western University is ready to do more and be more.
We have a vision of creating a community of thriving through belonging.
For our students, this means finding ways to offer a broad range of supports, both within and beyond our academic programs, to encourage thriving and belonging as individuals and as a team.
In August 2020, Western received a $9.2-million gift from Jeff and Shelley Parr that has helped us launch a centre dedicated to student mental health and well-being.
Parr Centre for Thriving: Funding innovative projects across campus that support student mental health and thriving
The Parr Centre strives to create greater awareness and provide more support to Western students than ever before – focusing on programs, education and strategic initiatives to help students thrive academically and personally.
The Parr Centre complements Western’s ongoing investment in student mental health support; it aims to bring together the entire campus to help foster a community of experts dedicated to student well-being. It also provides the flexibility to respond to changing student needs over time.
A unique approachThe Parr Centre isn’t a physical space, but rather a unique approach to fund student mental health and well-being projects that set students up for success from the moment they arrive on campus.
Projects funded through the Parr Centre develop innovative mental health initiatives in partnership with areas across the university that work closely with students, including faculties, Western Student Experience, residences, the Centre for Teaching and Learning, and Western Libraries.
The partnerships created through these projects will ensure students continue to benefit from these initiatives throughout their time at Western and into the future.
Our goals
- Create and foster a community of practice, bringing together individuals and units at the University involved in student mental health;
- Innovate, test, measure and evolve high-priority, impactful initiatives across the University to support student mental health;
- Advance the University’s leadership and impact in addressing student mental health;
- Provide flexibility to respond to changing student needs over time; and
- Raise awareness of the need for investment in student mental health and provide a platform to attract additional donors to student mental health initiatives at the University.
Please contact us if you are interested in learning more about the Parr Centre for Thriving, submitting a proposal, or making a donation to support our students and the innovative work taking place across campus.
Together, we can transform mental health at Western.
John Doerksen
Vice-Provost (Students)
