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Press Pause: A Mental Wellness Pop-Up

2022, Health

Access to adequate mental health resources plays a crucial role in maintaining our health and resilience as university students, especially amidst the additional stress, isolation and uncertainty brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. But do SFU students know where to turn to access mental health support?

SFU Public Square’s Peer Educators appeared for a two-day pop-up event at SFU's Burnaby and Surrey campuses. The Mental Wellness Pop-Up is a fun and creative space for SFU students to talk about mental health and accessibility. Activities included:

  • Participating in fun artistic activities including origami and mood boarding
  • Learning about mental health resources available to SFU students
  • Sharing your thoughts in a survey* on how SFU can better support students’ mental health
  • Winning prizes like coffee vouchers and self-care products
  • Cozying up around a fire pit with s'mores in Convocation Mall (Burnaby)
  • Enjoying free cookies and donuts from Renaissance Coffee (Burnaby)

This pop-up event was a chance to come together to de-stress, destigmatize conversations about mental health, and raise our voices about what support we need. 

Hosted in partnership with SFU Health & Counselling, SFU Student Services, and SFU Student Engagement and Retention.

*The survey is a student-led initiative by SFU Public Square's student Peer Educators and is in no way affiliated with SFU Health & Counselling.

Wed, 23 Mar 2022

SFU Burnaby (Convocation Mall)

 

Thu, 24 Mar 2022

SFU Surrey (Games Lounge in the Mezzanine)

Event recap

SFU Public Square's Peer Educators reflect on how they planned this mental wellness pop-up space and what they learned from the 300+ students who attended and completed their survey, including recommendations for how SFU can better support students' mental health.

"One of the most common issues for SFU students we heard from our interviews and research during the Peer Education Program was mental health. Students brought up a number of factors that affected their mental health due to the pandemic: constant anxiety from an unending stream of COVID-related news; loneliness from a lack of social life that is typically a staple of the university experience; and the many challenges brought about by the shift to remote learning.

And so, we came up with the idea of Press Pause: A Mental Wellness Pop-Up, a space where all students are welcome to destress, destigmatize conversations about mental health, ask questions and get answers, and voice their thoughts on how SFU can better support our mental health and wellness."

— Charlene Aviles, Nikita Banga, Punit Garg and Elena Le, SFU Public Square's 2021/2022 Peer Educators

Read the full reflection piece here

About the Peer Educators

SFU's Peer Education Program is a unique and collaborative opportunity for students to support students and build each other's individual and collective capacity, develop skills, make connections and build community. It is intended to make space for student voices to be heard, amplified and empowered within the university.

Peer Educators working with SFU Public Square get to connect with fellow students who have similar passions, create space for peers to engage with each other on crucial issues, inspire action, and learn more about the student experience across all three campuses and online.

Meet the 2021/22 cohort of SFU Public Square's Peer Educators!

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