By: Cynthia Piña, SFU Student
Content warning: mentions of anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, and transphobia.
For the past three hours, I’ve been rocking back and forth in my chair trying to figure out how to start writing. Every notification that goes off on my phone brings me anxiety, and I can’t fathom responding to any texts in the next few days. Occasionally standing up and pacing the room, I only feel impending doom. I feel no motivation for anything — eating, reading, or engaging in life. I just want to fall asleep and never wake up, but it’s impossible to fall asleep. I spend hours rolling around in bed until I decide that writing this piece will serve as my therapeutic outlet. It was these frequent episodes of anxiety, dread, and intrusive thoughts that made me reach out for long-term therapy. But SFU’s convoluted counselling system only made me feel worse. It doesn’t have to be this way, but until SFU makes substantial changes, students are only going to be forced to turn to expensive options if they want meaningful mental health support.
When SFU opened in-person counselling again, I figured it was the perfect time to reach out for support under the guise of going to class. However after my initial consultation, I was referred to a doctor who expressed frustration at my appointment with her, asked me intrusive questions, and minimized my health. I ultimately left the appointment even more distressed than I was when I came in.
I didn’t even get past the initial consultation, but my experience set me back in trying to find support through other avenues. I’m not the only one. Multiple threads on social media point to access issues with SFU Health and Counselling. From rude receptionists, to poor telephone communication, and invalidating experiences — SFU needs to step it up. At SFU Surrey, the waitlist is closed, and won’t be opening up again until August 2024 at the earliest. This leaves students with even less options and discourages them from seeking care. Students are paying a hefty tuition and shouldn’t need to battle with this institution for a service they’ve already paid for. Even worse, SFU Health and Counselling has previously received criticism for being untrained in serving LGBTQIA2S+ students: from deadnaming and misgendering, to having a poor understanding of transgender health, it’s clear this institution lacks support for students.
In spite of this, I tried to push through the system, but was told I needed to be enrolled in classes to book sessions. I wasn’t sure if I’d be taking courses since I was waitlisted and not enrolled. This is another one of my gripes with SFU Health and Counselling.
So much of the SFU experience already revolves around not being able to get the courses you need, so lots of students are forced to delay their graduations. As students, we should be able to take advantage of the services available to us, especially during off-semesters when we’re less overwhelmed from assignments and heavy course loads. In a semester where someone may take a full course load, and is already struggling with school, it feels counterproductive to gatekeep counselling sessions from unenrolled students. Once availability opens up, we’re no longer able to book a session.
I enrolled in a course and alerted Health and Counselling. I was sent an appointment date and time and asked to confirm. However, emails give me anxiety, so I stalled. I agonized over whether to take the appointment and knew I would likely lose it due to lack of response. I received a follow-up message about how “it would seem that [I’m] not in need of service at this time.” I actually was in need of service, but became so overwhelmed I could barely respond. This assumption felt needlessly judgemental.
I politely requested to be put back on the waitlist. I didn’t expect to be able to snag a session right away, I was OK with waiting. I desperately wished I could use an online scheduling form to look at the delivery formats and available times. It would have made the process much smoother. The answer I got in response was, “Just so you know – we have over 150 people waiting for service, so if you’re not prompt in responding to a message . . .” At that point I stopped reading because it felt unnecessarily shameful and passive aggressive. I had delayed seeking any kind of mental health service for years and I didn’t feel like I was being met with basic compassion.
Do you know what the symptoms of depression are? “Having no motivation or interest in things, finding it difficult to make decisions, and feeling anxious.” You would think a service set up to help these very people would acknowledge these symptoms and extend some kind of flexibility or understanding. I wasn’t demanding to be seen urgently — I just asked to be put back on the waitlist. I was willing to wait however long I needed, but this response deflated me.
This is pushing students away from SFU services, and forcing those with the financial means to look elsewhere for sufficient mental health support. It shouldn’t be this way. Students already have enough expenses, and the aim of SFU Health and Counselling is to alleviate financial and emotional burdens. A very simple solution to some of these issues is to allow students to forgo calling and emailing, and set up an online waitlist that allows us to book appointments through our SFU login and avoid human interaction altogether. That could alleviate some of the stress of taking the first steps.
It shouldn’t stop there though. SFU should be hiring more therapists for marginalized groups. While their roster seems to have improved over the years, roughly 65% of SFU’s counselling roster is white, with only one queer, one disabled, and one Black counsellor. As far as I can tell from the website, there is no one on the team that shares intersecting identities. Many SFU students will experience life through the lens of multiple identities, and it can be important for students to have those they confide in come from a place of lived experiences too.
The SFSS previously tried to bring forward a motion to “to open avenues for increased mental health services,” but it failed to meet quorum — meaning not enough people voted. While this would have been through StudentCare for external support, it could have been a step in the right direction for students’ mental health.
Battling with your mental health is already challenging — it doesn’t need to be made more difficult by blocking access to services or making the process harder than it needs to be. SFU Health and Counselling will require some major restructuring for these issues to be addressed, but the work needs to be put in for students.
