Be You Mental Health Campaign

Be You at Waterloo header

The Be You initiative to celebrate students. Using an intersectional approach to mental health and well-being, Be You ensures Campus Wellness programs and services and the way we talk about mental health centre the needs of our student community while celebrating students' individuality.

Be You at Waterloo Key Messages:

Take pride in your progress

  • Celebrate the wins and accept that challenges and setbacks are opportunities for learning and growth. 
  • Set realistic goals that are achievable. 
  • Recognize that mental health is striving for progress, not perfection. 

Be kind to yourself and others

  • Acknowledge that it is okay to struggle and take time for yourself. 
  • We are stronger together; lean on our community and ask for help navigating supports and resources. 
  • Everyone’s lived experience is different; systemic barriers, power and privilege create additional mental health hurdles for some. 
  • Building success is a lifelong journey.  
  • Make space for mental and emotional well-being. 

Embrace your authentic self 

  • Celebrate your individuality and differences. 
  • Understand you don’t need to conform to others’ expectations. 
  • Your unique social location and lived experiences can impact how comfortable you feel being your authentic self
  • Explore your self-awareness and emotional intelligence. 
  • Connect with communities where you feel safe and celebrated

Visual Identity

Visuals are flexible to evolve with the programming. Below are the primary visuals. The background gradient is available in all faculty colours and can be customized for specific activations.

Be You at Waterloo logo (gradient yellow background with black text)
Be You at Waterloo logo (gradient greyscale background with white text)

Get involved with the Be You Mental Health Campaign 

Here’s how you can engage with the campaign to support our student community:

  1. Leverage the creative SharePoint toolkit to promote Campus Wellness programs and support resources for students. In this toolkit you’ll find digital screens and social media assets to be shared across your student-facing channels.
  2. Partner with the Campus Wellness, Health Promotion team on student mental health initiatives. This could look like expanding on an existing event with a Be You activation or developing a program from scratch, bringing Be You to the core of your event plans. Connect with Grace Wong Chong, student mental health coordinator, to get started.
  3. Understand how to support students with their mental health with resources available on campus and continue to learn how to talk about mental health and well-being in a way that values students' intersectional identities and the diversity of our UWaterloo community.  

Campus Activations

Campus Wellness is working hard to integrate Be You messaging into our Counselling Services group offerings and via the upstream, prevention work supported by the Health Promotion team. Understanding the systemic barriers to mental health is foundational to all our work in Campus Wellness and the Be You initiative is no exception.   

Mark your calendars and continue to check back for updates:

Date Time Activity
Jan 16  2:00pm – 4:00pm 

Free study snacks 

Students are encouraged to stop by our booths in DC and DP to hear about Be You and get a study snack! 

Jan 22  11:00am – 3:00pm 

Mosaic photo booth  

Students will be encouraged to have their photo taken to be part of an art piece that’s going to live in the Health Services building.

Feb 3 3:00pm – 4:00pm 

Be You launch event 

Students, staff and faculty are invited to join us in HS 1002 for the unveiling of a Be You mosaic and hear from campus leaders and student representatives about Be You! Light refreshments will be provided.  

Register for this event

At Campus Wellness, we believe that prioritizing student mental health is key to both academic success and personal well-being. In collaboration with students, we've developed the Be You initiative to be student-centred, meeting individuals where they are on their mental health journey. This approach helps create a supportive, empowering space that encourages growth, fosters well-being, and cultivates a strong sense of belonging. We are dedicated to ensuring every student feels valued and connected at Campus Wellness, because at UWaterloo, being you truly matters to us!

Goldi Gill, Executive Director, Campus Wellness