Using mental health to create a culture of solidarity
Checking in with each other is one way to help manage stress and burnout during busy times of the year.
This time of year can be a challenge for many people. Between the bitter cold weather, limited sunshine and the second stretch of the academic term in full swing, February can feel like a long month.
Mental health and well-being is a priority for Ryerson and the university employs a number of resources and initiatives across campus to help contribute to the positive health of students, faculty and staff. The Ryerson Mental Health and Wellbeing Committee is one such resource that is guided by a mission to advocate for and provide leadership in erasing stigma around mental health on campus.
Co-chairs of the committee are Myra Lefkowitz, director of Workplace Wellbeing Services, and Allan Macdonald, executive director of Student Wellbeing. Natalie Roach serves as the mental health coordinator. For three years, the committee has organized a series of noon-hour talks that explore diverse and critical viewpoints on mental health and well-being.
Topics covered during this year’s Community Perspectives on Mental Health and Well-being include: academic Darwinism; reconceptualizing burnout; social determinants of health; well-being and reconciliation; and eco-anxiety, specifically climate change and our mental health.
“Often conversations about and around mental health focus more on the individual,” Roach said. “We wanted to create a series that took a more critical perspective on topics and attached it to socio-cultural factors.”
We all have a part to play
The first two workshops of the series dealt with academic Darwinism – the notion of survival of the fittest in academia – and burnout. Both highlighted the need for a change in culture to correct those discrepancies and the acknowledgement that change not only starts at the top but with each other.
“As leaders and colleagues, start to look for signs of burnout and push folks to take a break,” said Tanya (Toni) De Mello, workshop panellist and director of Human Rights Services. “It’s important to set limits at the leadership level so it trickles down. Mandate change and practices to effect change. Encourage staff to take breaks – a longer lunch, take a walk, attend events like this.”
Fellow panellist and clinical co-ordinator at the Centre for Student Development and Counselling, Maura O’Keefe explained that there can be different ways people cope with burnout. Some become disengaged, isolated or cynical while others may over-function and take on too much. A combination of individual self-care practices and seeking support from others can help reduce burnout and build a community of understanding and support.
“We can sometimes think of stress as something we can prevent or solve,” O’Keefe said. “It can be more helpful to think of stress as an inevitable part of our jobs and lives. The goal shouldn't be to get rid of it, it's more about how do we acknowledge and manage stress during difficult times and situations.
“Our culture can sometimes project perfectionistic ideas that we can prevent or stop stress from happening. A healthier approach is one where we accept stress and burnout as something we all face, and then the focus is on how we navigate through it and create a culture of support.”
Change starts with honesty
In having honest dialogues like these, Roach says it improves the articulation in conversations about what exists and is still missing from mental health, specifically in regards to structural factors. One of the committee’s goals is to have mental health and well-being embedded in the policy and practices of the institution.
“Being included in the academic plan as a value – a foundational document that’s valued at Ryerson – allows people to focus on it,” Roach said. “It becomes a critical point of an institution, not just a talking point. It’s about increasing the safety and ability to talk about these difficult topics.”
For support services, please visit https://www.torontomu.ca/mental-health-wellbeing/.
The next Community Perspectives on Mental Health and Wellbeing workshop is on February 28. Visit the Wellbeing at Work website for more information.
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