During my first year of high school my world turned upside down the moment that I was told I had to be a witness at a trial against a close friend; he was charged with aggravated assault. After this experience, high school became a memory blank for me as I worked so hard to try to bury the negative experience of preparing for trial, and feelings of shame and guilt that came about from the defense’s depiction of me.
I was accepted into UWaterloo for Environment and Business, a degree I specifically chose to be as far away from my trauma as I could, and I finally started to re-invent myself. Yet, in second year, I had another traumatic event occur in my life, which resulted in me experiencing what a University of Waterloo Psychologist later diagnosed as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), along with depression, and generalized anxiety disorder. Today, I call this the ‘black box’ experience as all the negative memories I buried from my childhood trauma came pouring out and I was forced to deal with the emotional toll this experience put on my mental well-being so many years later.
During this time, I received a ton of support from University of Waterloo. When I started feeling unwell, my University of Waterloo professors tried to help me manage and get me back on track with course content I wasn’t keeping up with. Campus Wellness also helped me by setting me up appointments with a Psychologist and group counselling sessions. Yet, during my PTSD I dropped out of school right before I was supposed to write one of my final exams. I went from being this straight A student to not keeping up with my course work, at a reduced load, to now changing the course of my future with the click of a button.
I thought my academic future was ruined.
Luckily, because of the support I received from Campus Wellness, I was able to advocate for myself to change the failed grades on my transcript to withdrawals – something that l felt more confident about being able to explain if I chose to apply to graduate studies.
After this, I took two semesters off academic studies and came back in 2015 to pursue a degree in Arts and Business, Legal Studies. I also started getting very involved on campus, volunteering within my department, and started giving back to the community as a volunteer for the Child Witness Centre and the Sexual Assault Support Centre. I graduated with distinction and was accepted into multiple graduate studies programs. I came back to UWaterloo in 2018 to pursue my Masters in Sociology, and a few months after graduating, received a job offer as an Advancement and Alumni Relations Coordinator for St. Paul’s!
Today, I have not only learned how to overcome my trauma and manage my anxiety, I have a wonderful job on campus and advocate for charitable giving to the United Way by sharing my personal story of childhood trauma and how I became resilient through the help of University of Waterloo and other community resources. From this experience I learned that it is okay to not be okay, and that negative experiences do not have to define your future. I also learned that University of Waterloo will help advocate for you, if you help advocate for yourself. Resources are there and support can be provided. The first step is vocalizing your needs!
- Landon Jennings, Advancement and Alumni Relations Coordinator at St. Paul’s University College
