The Health and Wellness (Student Advisory) Committee: Haters Gonna Hate

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A good polemic is the thinking person’s TMZ clip of Miley Cyrus twerking with Robin Thicke, complete with catty voiceover. I love them as much as the next law student or desperate housewife. So it was with great relish that I stumbled across Ultra Vires’ delightfully polemical November 27th opinion piece, “Contempt of Course: Disband the Health and Wellness Committee!”

In service of the valuable dialogue it has created, allow me to present a potentially more balanced but proportionally less entertaining view of what the Health and Wellness Student Advisory Committee (HWSAC) is, and what it is not. (Full disclosure: the author is a member of the 2013-2014 Health and Wellness Committee who advocates for developing substantive solutions for serious mental health issues, but who also quite likes smoothies.)

First, the HWSAC is just one of many health and wellness programs ongoing at the Faculty of Law. In the Fall 2013 semester alone, multiple substantial mental health initiatives were introduced or continued by the Faculty.

In September, the Faculty welcomed its first Student Programs Coordinator, Sara-Marni Hubbard, whose considerable experience developing supportive student programs includes roles at U of T’s Faculty of Engineering and Sexual and Gender Diversity Office.

Also in September, a dedicated professional counsellor from U of T’s Counselling and Psychological Services was made available to law students for individual counselling, psychotherapy, cognitive behavioural therapy and psychiatric medication. The service has seen demand double this year, its second year of operation.

Taking a more holistic approach, a new Elder-in-Residence discussion series was introduced in October through the Aboriginal Law Program. The program is open to all students.

Even without the benefit of hindsight I can see how doggie days would be more likely to go viral, though.

Second, the HWSAC is the law student voice on mental health and wellness at the Faculty. Many existing initiatives, including those most frivolous, have their origins in suggestions made by HWSAC student members.

The HWSAC comprises fifteen students from a variety of backgrounds who volunteer to discuss health and wellness issues and solutions monthly with the administration.

If you received free massages and green smoothies instead of fully loaded hip flasks and Xanax sample packs during the December 2013 exam period, you can blame this group of peers.

In January 2014, however, this same group also hosted a dedicated 1L Curriculum Consultation to ensure that the proposed 1L curriculum modifications meaningfully address the structural problems that perennially distress many of our newest law students, including unreasonable course loads. The new proposal, as developed by the administration, already incorporates wellness concerns.

Third, the HWSAC institutionalizes discussion and action on law student mental health and wellness issues, ensuring that they remain top of mind for the administration and that iterative progress is made.

At the first HWSAC meeting of year, some student members argued that more thoughtful, substantial initiatives were still needed to support students suffering from serious, ongoing distress.

To that end, the Faculty will be participating in the new 18-month Ontario Law Student Mental Health Initiative which connects law schools across the province in developing meaningful mental health supports for their students.

Each HWSAC meeting is an ideal forum for evaluating proposals and collecting feedback from a sample student population willing to donate intensive time and effort to this initiative.

Four years ago, there was no health and wellness programming. Three years ago, the HWSAC did not exist. In these dark ages, buried deep in the annals of recent history, “health and wellness at the law school” was a hilarious oxymoron moaned about by people who just couldn’t cut it. Progress has been made on many fronts.

Nevertheless we acknowledge that much work lies ahead, and encourage you to channel your restive energies into getting involved.

Come to a HWSAC meeting. They’re advertised through Headnotes. Get in touch with Sara-Marni Hubbard, our Student Programs Coordinator. Join the Ontario Law Student Mental Health Initiative Facebook page to contribute your ideas or fill out a survey to provide feedback.

But seriously, don’t complain to us about work-life balance as a practicing lawyer. Go chirp LSUC.

 

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