This fall, SFU Health and Counselling Services is launching its newest initiative with the hopes of eliminating the stigma attached to mental illness and mental health issues.
The Hi F.I.V.E. movement, which stands for Friendship, Invite Conversation, Value everyone’s gift, and Eliminate stigma‚ aims to increase on-campus dialogue of mental health issues through student-led outreaches, cross-campus partnerships, and various campaigns. The goal is to create a campus-wide safe space where students feel comfortable disclosing mental health issues without fear of judgement from peers, staff, and faculty.
Erika Horwitz, Associate Director of SFU Health and Counselling Services, has been developing this program over the past four years with the help of a small committee made up of professionals working in post-secondary institutions. The purpose of the committee was to look at the university and assess how it could support mental health and intervene better when students were struggling.
The group eventually developed a mental health pledge that embodies the values of the Hi F.I.V.E. initiative: embracing everyone; understanding the facts; not treating people as if all they are is their diagnosis; treating people with respect; and standing up to people who disrespect those with mental health problems.
Mental health includes all of us at different degrees.” Erika Horwitz
– Associate Director of SFU Health and Counselling Services
For Horwitz, this is an issue that hits close to home. Horwitz’s daughter, now 24, began at age 14 to have very bad anxiety and depression. During her eight year struggle, Horwitz says her daughter did not receive much support from her peers or even some health professionals.
“Seeing her journey through the mental health system . . . I’ve become aware that many students don’t want to come and get help because they carry the stigma,” said Horwitz. “We need to become more compassionate and caring and informed so that we can make their life more successful and make them feel like they’re part of our community.”
Although Health and Career Counselling at SFU developed a mental health strategy six or seven years ago, this is the first three-campus-wide initiative that SFU has undertaken to raise awareness and eliminate the stigma attached to mental health issues. The initiative also marks a desire to involve student volunteers, who may be better able to engage their peers.
One of 30-plus volunteers, Vivien Low was initially hired by Health and Counselling Services through co-op in January and has continued to work with the program since then. Along with SFSS Health Sciences Representative, Dhylan Verzosa, these Hi FIVE’rs (as Horwitz affectionately refers to them) have created Hi F.I.V.E. travel diaries, which were inspired by Facebook sites like SFU Confessions and Overheard at SFU.
“My observation was that ,under this veil of anonymity, students were able to be very honest and open about their stories,” said Low. “We came up with this physical, tangible diary where students can actually pick it up around campus, write their story in it, and pass it on to other students.”
The goal, says Horwitz, is to get everyone talking and sharing their own experiences bringing awareness to the fact that having mental health issues does not mean you are “crazy” or “wonky.”
Hi F.I.V.E. travel diaries were inspired by Facebook sites like SFU Confessions and Overheard at SFU.
“Mental health includes all of us at different degrees,” explained Horwitz. “This initiative is really based on the values that the SFU community holds, and that is to embrace everybody. What is very important is that it will change attitudes and behaviours towards issues of mental health — not just mental illness.”
Horwitz herself will be featured in a video on the website as part of a series that invites “regular” individuals to share their own stories of struggles with mental health, from stress to schizophrenia.
Currently, Health and Counselling is inviting faculty or student groups, who hold space on campus, to read the pledge, commit to it, and advertise their facility as a Hi F.I.V.E. safe and respectful space. Students are also invited to take the pledge and put a Hi F.I.V.E. button on their bag, indicating themselves as “mobile safe spaces.”
The initiative will also be re-training staff and student volunteers to incorporate the elimination of stigma in their peer training sessions.
