Grad Minds and other campus-wide mental health groups strive to provide mental health resources and initiatives for University of Toronto students. However, it can be challenging to reach all students in various different departments as access to any particular event or resource can be constrained by distance (as the university campus and associated research hospitals cover such a large area of Toronto), and the mental health-related challenges of students may differ by department and field of study. Therefore, Grad Minds would like to encourage the formation and development of department-level mental health committees. This workshop will provide guidance to students on how they can start a mental health committee in their own department, or further develop a currently existing one. The workshop will discuss how to learn about the specific mental health needs of students in your department, how to address these needs with specific events and initiatives, the steps involved in planning successful mental health events, and how to engage department faculty and staff in student mental health. The workshop will be conducted by Jacalyn Kelly, a PhD student in the Department of Medical Biophysics who Co-Chaired Grad Minds for the last 3 years, as well as who successfully developed a mental health committee in her own department and made it an official committee of the department’s student association along with her team.
