Western University’s Wellness Hub has launched and is offering two courses run and designed by students to help other students dealing with mental illness during the school year.
“We aim at engaging the students, and providing them with a space to have their voice heard, and valued,” says Huda Ghadban the Wellness Education Coordinator.
“We want them to be able to talk to other students who are going through the same, and to build this sense of community.”
The courses will have different topics and different delivery methods as well. One course is called ‘Navigating change’ and is being delivered online, while the other called ‘How to university 101’ is being offered in person.
Since its launch last week, the courses have been quite popular amongst the students and have been so far an overall success.
Huda Ghadban Wellness Education Coordinator
“The courses so far have gone really well, even better than we could’ve expected”, says Kathryn Beri one of the the courses facilitators, “It has been a great opportunity for these students to share what they have been going through and connect to others who can also relate.”
Moneet Tiwana another facilitator, says even the facilitators end up participating and benefiting from these classes.
“I think we all experience a bit of these things every day, and being able to be a part of that conversation and to get so personal with the students, makes us feel like we are not alone in this.”
Tiwana also adds that students this year are still dealing with the impact of the pandemic.
“Students were expected to go back to school and pretend like everything was normal when in reality it really wasn’t.” she says “students struggled to make friends, to socialize and fit back into that environment.”
Both courses are 6-weeks long and Ghadban and the facilitators are hoping to continue on with them beyond those few weeks.
“Continuing this next year may have a different shape, based on the student’s needs, each different year. We will have a new co-design phase, and then we’ll see what changes these students want to see.”
Any western student who may be struggling and needs this support can participate in these courses.
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