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I'll be honest, I'm sick to the back teeth of 'mental health awareness' events, 'mindfulness sessions', and 'wellbeing workshops'.
Plasters thrown into a gaping hole.
We need legitimate & expensive changes to our healthcare system and a revolution in our heinous work culture. https://twitter.com/MGLemieux/status/1341149240052097026
Plasters thrown into a gaping hole.
We need legitimate & expensive changes to our healthcare system and a revolution in our heinous work culture. https://twitter.com/MGLemieux/status/1341149240052097026
I'm grateful for the mental health support that is available from the counsellors and support teams in HE.
But, as one counsellor informed me, they're for managing people during bumps in the road. Sometimes that's enough but often it isn't.
But, as one counsellor informed me, they're for managing people during bumps in the road. Sometimes that's enough but often it isn't.
The MH crisis is too much to put on the shoulders of universities whose teams are designed to keep you functioning enough, ticking over. They can't deal with the root of the problem, which is what actually needs to change.
I find the insistence on short-term 'solutions' to be toxic; part of a broader set of cultural and social expectations in which it is up to *you* to be *aware*, *proactive*, and *taking initiative* in your MH - because nothing is going to change and *you* are responsible.
When this is perpetuated in HE - which it is - it serves to demoralise and worsen mental health.
MH support in HE can be part of the solution, but these overworked & overburdened professionals can't *be* the solution. Especially if it entails perpetuating that above narrative.
MH support in HE can be part of the solution, but these overworked & overburdened professionals can't *be* the solution. Especially if it entails perpetuating that above narrative.
More can be done in universities, sure, but this applies everywhere. Such as:
- Shorter working weeks and less hours.
- Universal Basic Income
- An approach to mental health designed to develop long-term, targeted, individual changes - rather than keeping you ticking over.
- Shorter working weeks and less hours.
- Universal Basic Income
- An approach to mental health designed to develop long-term, targeted, individual changes - rather than keeping you ticking over.
TL;DR my ramble: we can't put the onus of change on universities; part of but not the solution; the current mental health regimen & its insistence on 'wellness' and 'mindfulness' is bullshit; expensive systemic, social, and cultural changes need to be made throughout society.
