As part of mental health promotion week (January 24th-28th 2022), Queen’s University’s Student Mental Health Network invited students to nominate their professors, instructors and TAs for the Mental Health Classroom Champion. According to their website, the aim of this initiative “is to encourage and support an inclusive culture of wellbeing that inspires and enables all who live, learn, and work at Queen's to thrive.” To further recognize the TAs and instructors who received this nomination, some of the graduate students nominated discuss how it feels to be nominated, what they do in their classrooms to promote mental health and wellbeing, and how they hope this initiative inspires others.
All four of the Mental Health Classroom Champions expressed that they were honoured to be nominated. They mentioned how being nominated meant their students recognized what they did in the classroom to promote mental health. For example, Madison Robertson, a Ph.D. student (ABD) in Health Quality, explained, “I try to be fairly active in mental health support and advocacy, and I think to me it just means it’s being received and that it's helping students.” Similarly, Paul Boonmak, a Ph.D. candidate in Epidemiology, stated, “This is a great honour. I am just happy that the little things I do make an impact.” Additionally, Sophia Linton, a Ph.D. candidate in Translational Medicine, explains that the nomination demonstrates that her students are not stressed about the course. She explains, “To be nominated makes me really happy because it means they are focusing on their learning a little bit more.”
When discussing what they think they did in their classrooms to be nominated, the conversation often revolved around approachability and prioritizing mental health. For example, Daphne Brouwer, a Ph.D. candidate in Cultural Studies, discusses the importance of sharing personal experiences of mistakes made in undergrad to ensure her students knew she was human too, “I think it’s important to be honest with students that we are humans who have had stuff happen too.” Madison also spoke to the importance of recognizing that mental health was more important than their grade in the course, “At the beginning, I prioritized that mental health was more important than the grade they’re getting in this class.” Paul also highlighted two key factors he considers and encourages others to consider when promoting mental health in the classroom. First, he contends, “Don’t think of it [mental health] as a separate task, but an integral part of your teaching,” and second, he poses, “Think about what kind of TA or professor do you want and do what you want to be done to yourself.” Some other things they discussed doing to promote mental health in their classrooms included mental health check-ins before assignments and throughout the term, an OnQ page dedicated to mental health resources and having a list of mental health resources handy in case students needed it.
The Mental Health Classroom Champions spoke in high praise for the initiative. Daphne contends, “It opens up that conversation about mental health, and I hope we can continue the conversation with it.” Sophia echo’s similar sentiments, “I love any idea that brings student wellbeing to the forefront,” as does Madison, “If we can learn from and celebrate those who do it well, then I think that’s great.” Paul reiterates the aim of this initiative by stating, “Hopefully, everyone will be a Mental Health Classroom Champion here at Queen’s.” You can read about all of the professors, instructors and TAs nominated here, and you can stay informed for the next nomination period here.