Mental Health and Service-Learning in the Canadian Context

This article explores the relationship between two significant developments in higher education – the rise of mental health crises on our campuses and the growth in domestic service-learning (SL). Informed by interviews conducted in 2019 and 2020 with Canadian faculty, staff, students, and community partners, the authors examine a range of SL experiences that may positively or negatively impact students’ mental health. Drawing on the framework of “critical hope” (Grain & Lund, 2018), a realistic optimism about the transformative power of SL for both students and attendant communities, the discussion explores how some students feel empowered by working with a community partner for the betterment of society, while others may feel disheartened by the inequity and injustice they encounter. The article concludes with recommendations for how SL programs around the world can proactively promote and protect students’ mental health, actions that will become increasingly important given the current global pandemic.