Learning beyond the classroom: Inside York’s Recovery College

At school, learning often looks the same. Lectures. Readings. Assignments. Exams. We spend so much time building academic knowledge. Yet there is so much more to learn outside the classroom. These are the things school does not always teach us, like how to take care of our mental health, how to build healthy habits and how to understand ourselves better.

I have always wanted to learn those things. For me, health comes first before anything else. How we think, how we respond to stress and how we take care of ourselves shapes every part of our lives. That mindset is what motivated me to attend a virtual Recovery College course offered by Ontario Shores and Health Education & Promotion at York.

So what was it actually like?

At York, most courses are created by professors. Recovery Colleges are designed and facilitated by students, which means the content reflects what students are actually going through. They are also discussion-based, creating space for shared learning rather than one-way instruction. Instead of spending most of the time listening to facilitators teach, students are invited to actively participate, share their own perspectives and learn from one another’s lived experiences. 

I had the chance to attend the “Committing to a Healthy Lifestyle” course and before we even began, it provided a clear roadmap of what we’d be covering during the different sessions. We started with “Wellness 101”, then moved into goal setting and building supportive habits in “Ready, set, succeed." The third session “Resource navigation” connected us to the supports available on campus and everything came together in the final session “Connection counts." This stood out as my favourite session. What stayed with me most was realizing how much intention and effort meaningful relationships actually require, both online and in person.