Minor in the Social Studies of Mental Health and Addiction

Next year, students at McMaster will have the ability to declare a minor in the Social Studies of Mental Health and Addiction.

Created by the Faculty of Social Sciences, the new minor was established due to the growing student demand for courses that explore mental health and wellbeing. Students will be able to take courses that address a wide range of topics, including drug and alcohol addiction, aging, sexual deviance and social psychology.

The new minor aims to provide students with the opportunity to build an understanding of the connections between mental health, addiction and society by examining links between mental health and social factors, including marginalization, deviance, and social determinants of health. Students will also be able to develop an in-depth understanding of mental illness, including methods in which factors including social change and other non-biomedical interventions can be related to mental health and addiction.

Any student in an Honours program, within any faculty, is eligible to declare this minor during convocation. To qualify, students will need to take at least 24 units from a list of courses offered by the Faculty of Social Sciences.

To find out more about the program, check out the Faculty of Social Sciences, department of Health, Aging and Society website.