uOttawa Collective 4 Mental Health
uOttawa Collective 4 Mental Health - $1,000
Who
Samantha Lee, Angela Toubis, Nick Eburne, Catherine MacIsaac, Laura O’Connor and Max Le
What
The uOttawa Collective 4 Mental Health was created to address the ongoing mental health crisis on university and college campuses. The creation of the group is a direct response to 4 uOttawa student suicides between April and December 2019, and the subsequent generic email responses after each one by the university administration, as well as the lack of real change in regards to accessibility of mental health services on campus. Many students have started to speak out about their experiences with campus mental health services, many of which have been met with long wait times (sometimes months) and inadequate care. Our Facebook group currently has 810 members and our petition has received just over 6800 signatures from people in several different countries. The collective is all of us, all of us who are committed to making sure that all students can access the mental health help they need.
In their words: “Now that the issues have been identified and spoken up about, we want this widespread activism to translate into real action that meets students’ mental health needs. Students are sick and tired of the poor quality of mental health services on campus as well as the of the generic emails we get after each student suicide. We need to prove that those students were not just student numbers, and that the issues they faced and that many others face today will be addressed so no more lives are lost to mental illness. Words are not enough when we have a mental health crisis on campuses. We need action. We need justice for the students who lost their lives and for those who are currently living with mental illness.”