Dear editor,

Re: “SFU’s men’s rights activists protest new ‘friend zone’ bench unveiling”

The Hi-F.I.V.E Movement for Mental Health Executive Committee was disheartened by your “humour” article, dated November 9, 2015, regarding The Friendship Bench (the Bench).

We acknowledge that it is supposed to be entertaining, but we are nonetheless concerned that it damages our efforts to eliminate a stigma that has been so pervasive and unyielding. We believe your article actually perpetuates the stigma surrounding mental illness as early as the first sentence through the author’s tone and language, and by comparing the Bench to the undesirable “friend zone” (perhaps that undesirability is a not-so-subtle parallel?).

When the National College Health Assessment surveyed SFU students’ mental health in 2010 (the most recent data available), 83.6 per cent of students felt overwhelmed by all they had to do; 43.9 per cent felt things were hopeless; up to 11 per cent had seriously considered suicide; and almost two per cent had attempted to take their own lives. This is no laughing matter.

In fact, the Bench was donated to SFU by a man who lost his son to depression, and ultimately suicide. He generously donated the $5,000 Bench and a year’s worth of mental health resources to help raise awareness and prevent future tragedies. The idea of him and his invaluable work becoming associated with the article in question is, frankly, mortifying, which is why we decided to exclude his name.

This piece was published a mere two weeks after the Bench was permanently installed and recognized as a permanent symbol of mental health, as well as SFU’s commitment to a stigma-free community. Considering how new the Bench was at the time of your article it is more than likely that many of your readers did not have an opportunity to appreciate the significance of the Bench, instead forming an impression based on your satire, or dismissing it altogether. This is a tragedy in itself and hard to undo.

Since The Peak is unwilling to remove the content from its archives, we can only hope that its availability does not discourage students in distress from seeking help or make them feel that this is in any way representative of SFU’s stance on mental health and illness.

The media are one of the most frequently identified sources of mental health information and journalists have the power to shape coverage of it — let’s work together to better understand and de-stigmatize it.

Sincerely,

Hi-F.I.V.E Movement for Mental Health,

2015-16 Executive  Committee

[The Peak could not confirm all the percentages in this letter]