MacEwan student group plans mental health outreach
How Jack.org is raising awareness for MacEwan students’ mental health struggles.
Jack.org promotional cards and stickers (Instagram/@jackorgmacewan)
MacEwan University’s Jack.org chapter plans to distribute mental health activity booklets in October as part of its efforts to reach students experiencing mental health struggles.
The group plans to give away the booklets to raise awareness for World Mental Health Day, which is on Oct.10. “It’ll have self-care passages, colouring sheets and different activities,” said Lumley, who is the president of the MacEwan chapter for Jack.org.
The finalized date and location for the booklet distribution will be released through the group’s Instagram account: @jackorgmacewan.
To start off this academic year, Jack.org has a goal-setting meeting which will take place in the coming weeks.
“Our primary goal right now is helping students differentiate mental health struggles versus mental illness,” said Lumley.
A student named Amy said “I think a mental health group would help students who need resources, but don’t necessarily know where to find them.”
“I know there are resources at MacEwan, but I don’t know specifically what they are or how to access them,” Amy said.
The chapter recruited about 15 new members from the Student Groups Expo, and are open to adding more people to their team. “If people are ever interested, they can always email us or go to our social media and just message us,” said Lumley.
As Lumley wraps up his final year at MacEwan, he said the biggest change he’d like to see is “a bigger variety of resources, like group counselling sessions or workshops that focus on specialized aspects of mental health struggles.”
