On April 5, the Committee on Student Mental Health voted on the completion of recommendation 18 based on the training modules the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response team has established on campus. Director of Equity Gina Hickman addressed CoSMH to share updates from the Provost’s Advisory Committee on Equity (PACE) and its working groups. Their mandate overlaps with PAC-SMH recommendation 11, which calls for the striking of a committee to implement a cultural competency strategy regarding health promotion and student wellness. The CoSMH support team has shared a list of people for inclusion in the appropriate PACE working groups, including a CoSMH member, previous members of the PAC-SMH panels, and other interested campus partners with mental health expertise. Jennifer McCorriston, Associate Director of Health Promotion, also joined us to announce the launch of a university-wide Wellness Collaborative. The formation of this collaborative was one of the specific commitments UWaterloo made during the adoption of the Okanagan Charter (recommendation 34). CoSMH continues to collaborate with the Mental Health Literacy Training Steering Committee on recommendation 22. The Academic Working Group meets regularly, and will provide an update to the committee in May 2019.
As CoSMH comes up on its one-year anniversary, chair John Hirdes and Feds President Richard Wu reflected on the progress made so far in a short interview for CTV. For the most up-to-date information, keep the CoSMH dashboard bookmarked!