This Canadian College Student Says He Was Kicked Out of the Dorms After a Suicide Attempt

This article originally appeared on VICE Canada.

"I had no plan to go anywhere at all, I was just hoping to walk, and by the time I was far enough I would be dead, essentially." This is what James Rodriguez tells VICE of his mindset on the evening of September 3, 2014.

Rodriguez, a first-year English and drama student at the University of Toronto, says he was sexually harassed and drugged that night before he cut himself, mixed prescription pills and alcohol, and walked to Queen's Park in downtown Toronto.

He spent several days in hospital before returning to his residence on campus. However, he found that he was no longer welcome.

Rodriguez is one of the 20 percent of Canadians who experience mental health issues, according to the Canadian Mental Health Association. Suicide accounts for 24 percent of deaths for Canadians aged 15 to 24, making it the second greatest cause of death for that particular demographic.

Related: Read the VICE Guide to Mental Health.

But for Rodriguez, a gay Canadian of Asian descent, the rate of mental illness and risk of suicide is even higher. According to Rainbow Health Ontario, "LGBT youth face approximately 14 times the risk of suicide and substance abuse than heterosexual peers."

Rodriguez said after he was released from hospital he received a phone call from the dean of students and residence at Innis College, Tim Worgan. He said he was asked to leave residence, and told he could return in the winter semester with the recommendation of a psychiatrist.

"They kept recommending that I drop out for a year, or at least drop out for a semester and continue my studies after, because apparently they thought I would be a danger to myself and everybody in the residence," he said.

"One thing that really stuck [with] me is when I called out the dean on how inappropriate it was to kick someone out who was just traumatized, and his reply was [basically], 'You don't think people here were traumatized either?'"

A University of Toronto statement in response to VICE's request for comment said the school takes "the safety and wellbeing of our students very seriously. While we are unable to discuss specifics of a particular case, the university has a variety of services to support students during difficult times."

The university didn't wish to comment further.

Rodriguez said he spent the next week and a half looking for a new apartment while he crashed on friends' couches, and even spent a few nights in the university's 24-hour library.

He said he was offered different services when he met with Worgan, but the stress of finding new housing meant he had to put his mental health issues aside. He did begin to see a psychologist, but Rodriguez said, "He just wasn't a good fit for what I needed so I stopped seeing him."

Rodriguez then looked into a program under the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) that offers free counseling by psychology graduate students under supervision of a licensed psychologist. After being put on the waitlist, Rodriguez said he was eventually told the program was full.

Even if the program did have space, it probably wouldn't have been able to take him on, explained Dr. Judith Silver, a clinical and counseling psychologist at U of T.

"If people are actively suicidal, we generally don't take them on," said Silver. "Because we have students doing the counseling, they just don't have the experience to take on someone like that."

Silver said the program has seen more students contact them for counseling services in the past few years, something she credits to referrals from U of T's often-overwhelmed psychological and counseling services.

Rodriguez said he has considered seeking private help, but is deterred by the waitlists and cost. The Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) doesn't cover psychological services, according to the Ontario Psychological Association, which passed a resolution at its November 2013 board meeting keeping the hourly rate at $220.

While many Canadians do have some sort of health insurance, most plans provide between $300 and $1,000 a year for psychological services, according to the association. That's not nearly enough for weekly or even monthly treatment.

Rodriguez said he did consider seeking psychiatric (i.e. medical doctors) help, which OHIP covers, but found another long wait list. "There's a long process that requires me to visit my family doctor and psychiatrist and I didn't really have the time to go to Cambridge," where his family doctor is, said Rodriguez.

This isn't the first time at U of T where a student's mental health issues have left them without a room in residence. Erin Hodgson, a former student at U of T, was "evicted by a vote of her peers several years ago after attempting to end her life," according to a CTV W5 documentary.

Hodgson went on to earn a postgraduate degree in Advanced Studies in Special Needs, and become a project lead at Jack.org, an organization dedicated to addressing youth mental health issues. It's named for Jack Windeler, a first-year Queen's University student who committed suicide in 2010.

Similar situations have occurred at other Canadian universities as well. Blake Robert, a student who was previously living in a residence at Acadia University, said she was "asked to leave" because of mental health issues, according to an article published in the Acadia University student newspaper, the Athenaeum.

"If someone you knew committed suicide, would you be comforted by the fact that it didn't happen on campus and instead she was sent off in time to die somewhere else?" wrote Robert.

The Ontario Human Rights Legal Support Centre, which provides legal counsel to individuals who believe they have experienced a human rights violation, has dealt with similar cases "involving discrimination in housing in university settings," according to the center's manager, Grace Vaccarelli.

Housing providers, including universities, have a duty to accommodate someone with mental health issues, said Vaccarelli, unless they can prove that it would be "undue hardship" to do so. Undue hardship can be qualified in financial, health, or safety terms, she said.

"The duty to accommodate is on everybody, said Vaccarelli. "The university has a duty to accommodate, but so do the other residents in the housing."

The term "undue hardship" also means that "some hardship is due, so there is often a cost associated and there may be disruptions," she said.

Rodriguez said he wasn't given any information about a way to appeal the university's decision. He does not plan to pursue any type of action at this time.

"This entire situation made me feel like I didn't really want to be at U of T anymore," he said. "They do have programs for mental health and wellness and everything, however, it seems very inaccessible, it seems like you're treated like something really disposable."

Since the incident, Rodriguez said he's spoken with the dean of students to discuss how to better assess and deal with the situation in the future.

"I would say it was productive. It sort of benefits other individuals who—God forbid—end up going through this."

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