The Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA) facilitated a mental well-being talk on Sept. 25 to assist students struggling with the many mental health concerns associated with university student life. Imprint sat down with an advocacy team member, Sam Sawant, to discuss this event. 

Through research, the advocacy team at WUSA identified seven priorities of students that they want to address, with overall mental health and mental well-being of students one of these priorities. Sawant shared, “Jack.org, we felt, was a great fit to address students’ needs – it is a company that employs students to discuss the many struggles associated with mental health with other students.

“Hearing from individuals who are at a similar point in their lives will be much more effective in reaching students than hearing from professionals or older individuals.”

Sawant reached out to jack.org early in the spring term to book this event. “When booking the event, I decided that it would be most effective to focus on the topics of strategies for being there for your peers, and strategies for being there for yourself,” Sawant said. She alluded to the fact that through research, she and her team gained the understanding that the majority of students were not necessarily interested in understanding what mental wellness/health was (another topic offered by Jack.org), but were more interested in providing students with proactive steps that they can take to be there for their others and themselves

When discussing how the event went, Sawant shared, “Although the event received overall general positive feedback, the turnout for the event was not as great as anticipated.” The initial booking of this event was slotted as in-person, but at the last minute, jack.org shared that they would have to move the event to virtual. “Moving the event to a virtual platform resulted in a much smaller turnout than was initially anticipated,” Sawant said. This largely had to do with the fact that various professors informed Sawant that they would be taking their classes to this event as it was scheduled during class time. “Many professors pulled out due to it being moved to a virtual setting,” Sawant shared. Regardless of the amount of people who came, Sawant said that even if one student was assisted with this event, they were happy. 

The event was set up in what seemed to be an informal lecture setting. Sawant shared that the speakers did have some lecture slides and followed an agenda, but there were also various opportunities for students to share experiences or ask questions when needed. When asked, Sawant shared that although there was not one main goal, “we wanted to educate the students.” When asked what the main takeaway from this event was, Sawant said, “Nothing that you feel is too small.”

Sawant shared that WUSA has many events around the corner to help students with their overall mental health, including Wellness Week, set to begin in November.