The College Student Alliance (CSA) has launched a campaign in attempt to eliminate mental health stigma across its 18 student associations in Ontario, according CSA president Curtis Bell.
The Yellow Umbrella Project took place Oct. 28-Nov. 1 at 13 colleges across Ontario. The campaign is unique because it was created by “students for students,” Bell said.
“This isn’t coming from government,” he said. “Having it done by students, it’s relating to students on a direct level.”
Bell said the campaign is about “letting students know we’re on campus and making sure that they know all the resources on campus.”
Many resources are becoming available to students with the Ontario government’s recent $27-million investment in mental health for post-secondary students. It also launched Good2Talk, a new 24-hour phone service.
The Yellow Umbrella Project stems from the CSA’s Blue2013 campaign last year. Student associations participated in the campaign by using social media, and inviting community organizations and college departments to display information about mental health. Other aspects of the initiative included therapy dogs on campus.
The CSA received a lot of support and recognition for its awareness week and decided to do it again, according to Bell.
Carleton University Students’ Association vice-president (student issues) Gina Parker said she saw some problems with the campaign.
She said the campaign’s name is already in use by an organization raising money for cervical cancer, and also said it is difficult to figure out what the campaign is all about from its name.
Parker said she did see some value in the CSA’s efforts though.
“I can see what they’re trying to do and they’re trying to fight stigma and that’s a step in the right direction,” she said.
CUSA has been active in its campaign to fight mental illness, according to Parker.
It hosted a mental health awareness week Oct. 7-11, during which the student association brought in Margret Trudeau as a guest speaker, played mental health trivia, and built a campaign to de-stigmatize mental illness.
CUSA views mental health “as a multi-dimensional aspect of student life and student issues,” Parker said. “So there is not just one thing you can be doing.”
