for who<\/em>?<\/h2>\n\n\n\nPerhaps one of the biggest slaps in the faces of marginalised students and those suffering from mental illness was the university\u2019s approach to celebrating its centenary this year. Instead of spending money towards transformation and students\u2019 wellbeing, the university thought it best to spend an exuberant amount of money on Centenary branding. Building sites, faculty buildings, lifts, the Neelsie, road circles, you name it, have some form of \u201c100 Year Celebration\u201d branding on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While thousands have been spent on this PR-project, the Centre for Student Counselling and Development (CSCD or \u201cSSVO\u201d) has made public that they lack enough funding to expand their psychotherapeutic services. This is a heartbreaking situation on campus because it indicates the disconnection between management and students. They may be celebrating the centenary, but many of us have to worry about our mental well-being and whether we may have to attend friends\u2019 funerals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Diversifying psycho-therapeutic services<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
There is no doubt that we are a diverse society, and it should make absolute sense to have a diverse approach when dealing with mental health issues. When it comes to the CSCD, diversification needs to take place in two ways: firstly by diversifying the various forms of therapeutic practices, and secondly by having individuals of diverse demographics as therapists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Therapeutic practices can be extended by hiring trauma counselors who are specifically trained in dealing with patients who have experienced severe trauma, as numerous students have. Furthermore, a more nuanced understanding of various cultural interpretations and traditions regarding mental health are necessary, as a purely \u201cWesternised\u201d approach will be ineffective for those from radically different backgrounds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regarding the demographics of therapists, we need to have therapists of different races, genders, sexualities and cultural backgrounds. As some students have argued, people of similar backgrounds are able to relate and connect more easily with patients and will have a more immediate empathetic understanding of their client\u2019s situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Talk talk talk<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Clearly we, as a campus community, are failing to prioritise mental health in our academic, learning, and social spaces. Not only does this represent the current situation in our society, but it also makes clear the lack of action by people in power to provide empowering, enriching spaces for young people to grow and prosper. It is high time that the university focuses on crucial matters that truly affect the well-being of its students, and this does not have to involve the endless talks that take place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regarding mental health awareness talks, the usual predicament is that the same people attend every talk. Whether it\u2019s the stigma of mental health, or the labels of \u201cwoke\u201d, conscious people being attached to people who take part, the situation is simply that these talks are not reaching all students on our campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, proper changes should be taking place within our spaces. For example, a simple practice of shortening meeting times could decrease the level of stress on students who are battling with time management. In addition to this, adopting training programmes for mentors and HKs who can facilitate and create healthy, comfortable spaces where they lead and exist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plan ahead<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
It is clear that all universities, specifically Stellenbosch University, have a lot to work on. Since mental health has begun being taken seriously only recently, it is taking institutions and society in general a long time to initiate any plan or policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One positive note is that the SRC Student Wellness Officer, Melt Hugo, has launched a Student Mental Health Task Team that will aim to implement an inclusive, empowering mental health policy on campus. Nevertheless, it is paramount that all students and staff members are cognisant of the mental health situation in our society and play an active role in changing their spaces. First and foremost, we must consider structural changes and the impact we can make We must be willing to form an open and expressive culture in our relationships and conversations, in order to ensure that people can engage about their struggles when they seriously need to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a campus community, and indeed as society, we have a long way to go. If something does not change soon, the system will ultimately collapse and further harm more students than ever before.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A year later and nothing has changed – the deadly crisis is still developing on our campus with little to nothing being done. Due to the nature of mental illnesses and the situation on university campuses, this piece may be triggering to some. In November 2017, I wrote a rather scathing article for the Huffington […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[67,64,63,61,21,66,65,36,60,62],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/nikko-macaspac-263785-unsplash.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa0nwP-5h","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":333,"href":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327\/revisions\/333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ilizwi.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}