Alex Kvaskov, Assistant News Editor
York has announced a new mental health strategy, but students are unclear what it all means.
Some on-campus mental health awareness activists say York’s strategy needs greater transparency.
Indie Kaur, co-president of Active Minds at York, says York’s mentioning mental health on its website, YFile, and information screens is a good start, but not enough.
Having sat on the mental health steering committee, Kaur feels the committee lacks community members’ voices, whose mental health the committee and strategy are working to safeguard.
“Inviting community members into the meeting will promote transparency as well as foster a peer-positive approach that engages key informants as meaningful contributors in the design, delivery, and review of services,” she adds.
While York has taken steps to incorporate the voices of community members in their strategy through ongoing community consultations, Kaur maintains this only involves them in one point in time and places community members on the sidelines.
Data released by York indicates over half of York students reported feeling overwhelming anxiety in the last 12 months, while 11.5 per cent of students reported seriously considering suicide.
Although counselling services has one of the highest levies at York, students continue to report difficulty accessing services.
Previously, Active Minds at York hosted its annual mental health symposium in collaboration with Jack.org York to raise mental health awareness.
Speakers at the symposium recounted their experiences with mental health challenges.
Asante Haughton, spoke about his own struggle and his mother’s struggle with depression. He touched on issues of intersectionality and mental health, saying for him, as a black man, speaking about depression and mental health issues is especially difficult in his community.
Haughton found himself becoming withdrawn and isolated in high school, following his mother’s depressive episode where she lost a lot of weight.
After his mother’s release from the hospital, Haughton was able to focus on resolving his concerns, but it wasn’t until he took a psychology course at university that he began to identify some of his symptoms.
He spoke with a counsellor provided through his university and was able to make considerable progress against his depression.
Today, he is a motivational speaker continues to practice positive self-talk and other coping skills he learned in counselling.
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