Mental Health on Campus October 23, 2009
Posted by schen01 in : Uncategorized , add a commentOctober 23, 2009
On tackling one of the most taboo topics on campus: mental health.
What are some of the things/phrases that come to mind when we hear “mental health”?
Crazy, alone, tears, stress, diagnoses, medication, silence, stigma, secrets, shame, helplessness, weak, therapy/services, support, family, empathy, courage, “What do you have to be unhappy about?”, “Bitching and moaning”, “It’s all in your head.”
If mental health is something that everyone has, how do we distinguish mental health from mental illness?
Mental health is a spectrum that mental illness falls on. Mental health can be defined as the state of how the mind is, while mental illness is a bad state of mind, which is equated with having a problem. In speech, the word ‘mental’ has taken on a negative connotation, resulting in an interchanged use of the words ‘mental health’ and ‘mental illness’.
Is mental health a diversity issue?
Are people who are mentally different mentally ill? Being mentally ill affects the way someone functions socially or occupationally and is a diagnosable illness. Mental health is a diversity issue because there is a stigma around the issue and people are treated differently based on where they fall on the mental health scale. Mental illness is also an issue that involves both visible and invisible differences, and stigmas placed on those affected by mental illnesses come from the stereotypes associated with visible differences. Additionally, socioeconomic diversity plays a role in deciding who gets access to healthcare and support. In a nutshell, mental health is a diversity issue simply because it affects the way people are treated by the world.
Why is it harder for people to talk about mental health than other things, especially at Bryn Mawr?
Mental health is more difficult to talk about than physical health because it is personal and there aren’t always outward signs that someone is suffering. Some people do not believe there is a problem if it is not visible. There is a societal perception that mental health is a weakness. People are scared of reaching out to others because they fear that they will be shamed and rejected. Additionally, the mental health conditions themselves cloud people from conveying and articulating their emotions. Furthermore, people can feel threatened by the administration’s policies for students who suffer from mental health problems. In an environment where mental health is treated as a weakness and individuals are supposed to be “strong Bryn Mawr women,” reaching out for help can be a contradictory and intimidating prospect.
Why mental health should be discussed?/What can we do?
Seeking help is not a weakness, but an act of courage because it takes a lot of guts to confide in others. Counseling services makes it very clear that you do not need to have an apparent problem to use their services. Often times, people wait until a situation gets to a crisis point before seeking help, which can be very detrimental. Counseling services also treats confidentiality very seriously; counseling records are double-locked and are not included in physical health records. Only with a student’s permission will the information be shared with deans, parents, etc.
The idea of the strong Bryn Mawr woman not wanting to seek help was a hot discussion. While some of the characteristics tied to being a Bryn Mawr woman are empowering, some keep us from asking for help and connecting with others when we are in trouble. We need to let students on campus know all the resources available to them and to demystify therapy by openly talking about it. Active Minds plans a lot of events for students, especially before midterms and finals to de-stress. We all know that Bryn Mawr culture produces a lot of stress, but unfortunately, nobody uses the de-stressing activities. We as a community, need to support one another by acknowledging and spreading the message that asking for help is not a weakness, nor is it futile.
Identity and its impact on service October 9, 2009
Posted by schen01 in : Uncategorized , add a commentDiversity Conversation September 25, 2009
At the first diversity conversation of the year, the topic discussed was identity and its impact on service. Many of the attendees came back with anecdotes from service projects and internships this summer to contribute to the discussion. When going around to say why each person came, there was a noticeable interest in how privilege interacts with service.
To kick off the conversation, it was important to address identity as something that is multifaceted and shaped by both external and internal elements. Additionally, people have the option to choose which parts of their identity they want articulate. The conversation incorporated four dimensions of identity that seem salient in service work, as broken down by one of the facilitators: race, class, religion and gender and sexuality.
Some of the questions/points raised in discussion about the relationship between identity and service and how the two are connected:
· Identity can get in the way when people question why you are there; if you don’t have a vested interest, why should you care?
· What if identity is misperceived?
· People judge competence based on race, appearance of age
· Mistrust of certain identities
The question about the relationship between identity and service prompted a larger discussion around the question:
How do assumptions affect the way you perform in service and does overcoming those assumptions make you more effective in your work?
· Understanding the way assumptions work helps us to interact with people
· Existing assumption that those who do service are wealthy and have lots of time
· Getting paid for service receives different reactions
· Takes patience with self and others to overcome assumptions
· Code-switching: behaving differently in different environments to fit into the context. Using different types of language. Originated with theory that African-Americans need to code-switch to make it in the white world.
o Code-switching can have negative effects including get slack from one’s own community, questioning authenticity, uncertainty about self
· Being reflective about feeling uncomfortable vs. unsafe. If you are never uncomfortable, you are not going to learn anything, but being unsafe also causes you to not learn anything.
· We have control of the expectations we set for others
On that positive note, we ran out of time, although the conversation can continue at various resources at both Bryn Mawr (the CEO, SJPP, CDA’s, affinity groups) and Haverford (CPGC and CPGC internships) and this blog!
Honoring Our History: Assuring Our Survival December 2, 2008
Posted by vchristm in : civic engagement, diversity, history , add a commentDiversity Conversation Oct. 24, 2008
A constant theme of the past two diversity conversations was the idea of multicultural history on Bryn Mawr campus, especially of the affinity groups: what current students can take from the past in terms of membership, conflicts, and collaboration.
This week’s conversation gave particularly deep insight into this history as it was attended by several alumnae, who all shared the experience of being minority students on campus at various points of time, ranging from the early 1970s to only a few years ago.
There isn’t much information on the exact origins of the affinity groups at Bryn Mawr- it’s possible that Sisterhood developed in the 1970s as a primarily black affinity group, but inclusive to students of Latina and Caribbean origins. Between the 80s and the 90s BACaSO and Mujeres came to be.
We learned from alums that the purpose that affinity groups originally served was to provide a resource and support space that effectively functioned like a “home away from home” for many students in the midst of Bryn Mawr’s predominantly caucasian environment. Affinity groups provided students with a space to vent concerns specific to diversity, a knowledge base of which people and channels were going to be most sensitive and receptive to their needs, and, in general, a place to feel comfortable. Finally, there it was a space to develop a cultural history at Bryn Mawr- with the goal that the issues women experienced in the past or present would no longer exist in the future.
Diversity issues at Bryn Mawr will always be, in some way, institutional issues, but only in recent times have the approaches to these issues become institutional as well. In the past, student-powered affinity groups were the engines that lobbied the administration for measures on their behalf, like an increased flow of minority students to the college. The OIA now serves as a channel for many of these concerns, and affinity groups seem to have evolved from engines for change to interest groups with lesser roles in social justice education and action on campus.
And perhaps that’s okay. Though there is certainly room for improvement and progress, current students feel that diversity at Bryn Mawr is at a level where interaction between people of different backgrounds is an everyday occurrence, even if they do not always lead to greater awareness and understanding.
One alumna noted with great insight that there exists in human nature a natural tendency to seek the company of people who look, talk, and act like you; to whom you don’t have to explain yourself; who share experiences similar to yours. It’s the challenge of wanting to feel comfortable. Intercultural interaction and understanding, facilitated by Bryn Mawr’s diverse context and its institutional offices like the OIA, will still always take a conscious effort.
More often than not, effort like this is rewarding- not only in learning about other cultures, but in helping to celebrate oneself. An alumna reflected that coming to Bryn Mawr and being in the presence of so many confident women from so many unique backgrounds suddenly made her feel proud to be what she was.
Leadership In and For a Diverse World December 2, 2008
Posted by vchristm in : civic engagement, diversity, leadership , add a commentDiversity Conversation 10-3-08
This week’s discussion began with some word association:
What does diversity mean to you?
Difference, inherently. Excellence, potentially. Uniqueness, collaboration, understanding, celebration, barriers, and transformation.
What do you associate with leadership?
Self-reflection. A role model. Vision, honesty, humility, respect. Action: accountability and responsibility. A listener, a mediator, a collaborator, a learner. Informed, insightful, passionate and necessary.
Within those associations, how do diversity and leadership contribute to each other?
As one faculty member said, the basic idea behind the usefulness of diversity to leadership is that “all of us are smarter than one of us. Looking at the situation from different angles is the only way to see all sides.”
Incorporating and mediating multiple perspectives can create challenges and fracture, but these challenges in turn can become opportunities for growth.
However, one of the greatest challenges to leadership on campus discussed was, again, the four-year lifespan. Students in leadership positions often come up against long-standing culture and have an extremely short time frame in which to make an impact. It is key that leaders share their vision with their successors, and analyze what their predecessors shared with them.
Lastly, as a student quoted, “a true word can transform the world.” In leadership, the act to mediating multiple perspectives does not equate trying to please everyone, but to be honest with and true to one’s self and one’s context.
Music, Authenticity and Appropriation February 29, 2008
Posted by vchristm in : arts, culture, diversity, history, language, music , 2commentsDo you have a right to sing the blues? Is appropriation with attribution OK, or is it still using someone else’s property/culture/history? About 15 of us discussed these issues today (2/29/08), and our exploration was guided by Prof. Michael Tratner, Shayna Israel ‘08 and Nikki Lopez ‘10. Some of the additional issues we grappled with included identity, everyday experience, money, access, blame, obscurity, recording, preserving, reproducing, stealing and influence. People spoke from both the heart and the head, sharing information from readings as well as from their own performing history/present. As usual, the discussion looped around a lot of territory in 50 minutes. Although there are many questions that remain, three stood out for me: Whose job is it to tell the cultural story [behind music/a work of art]? Can you ever have the whole story? And can we share that story, or do some people, as originators, own it?
What questions stood out for you? Please continue the conversation!