One in five people in Canada will experience mental illness in any given year, according to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, but stigma, shame, and harmful myths continue to create barriers in the workplace and community for those living with mental illness.

A campaign launched Oct. 10, World Mental Health Day, aims to debunk stigmatizing myths around mental illness and provide the UWindsor community with facts and helpful tips for supporting those who may be struggling.

The One in Five campaign is part of the UWindsor Employee Mental Health strategy focused on de-stigmatizing mental illness, says employee mental health co-ordinator Kate Hargreaves.

“Stigma around mental illness can create real barriers to people seeking and receiving support,” Hargreaves says. “Mental illness is incredibly common, yet many are still so often reticent to talk about it because of the associated shame and judgment. The One in Five campaign aims to challenge this stigma and debunk myths, making way for supportive and inclusive conversations around mental health.”

Through infographics and posters, campaign messaging highlights the fact that those experiencing mental illness are our friends, colleagues, and community members. Each week, a new infographic will be released, and all materials, as well as mental health support resources, will be available on the One in Five website.

Thursday’s launch event featured a workshop by mental health educator Jenny-Lee Almeida equipping participants with practical tools to manage stress, understand and embrace change, and prioritize wellness during uncertain times. A mix of interactive discussions and practising strategies taught participants how to lean into protective factors, both personally and collectively.

Emergency and crisis resources are available through the Office of the Vice-President, People, Equity, and Inclusion.

Ann De Shalit, a post-doctoral fellow in the School of Social Work, has received the 2024 Alice Wilson Award from the Royal Society of Canada.

The award recognizes women of outstanding academic qualifications in the arts and humanities, social sciences, or science who are entering a career in scholarship or research at the post-doctoral level. Dr. De Shalit was one of three academics recognized for their research.

De Shalit’s post-doctoral research, Safety for whom? A situational analysis of safe/r supply and the rhetoric of crime, social decline, risk, and unsafety, considers the political and media rhetoric framing Canada’s safe/r supply programming, a harm reduction measure that responds to rising rates of overdose and death from the unregulated toxic drug supply. The project explores impacts of misinformed rhetoric on program delivery and safety of harm reduction users and workers.

De Shalit’s mentor and post-doctoral supervisor is Adrian Guta.

“This is Dr. Guta’s area of expertise, and he has provided me with a great amount of support and guidance,” she says. “So, putting together his experience and some of my background, it comes together as a project that hopefully has some impact once it’s carried out.”

“When we consider the rhetoric around safe supply, its race and class dynamics are clear. That’s where the ethical and moral dilemmas appear in conservative leaning rhetoric. That’s when it changes to ‘unsafety’ and ‘danger’ and so on. It completely misleads the history and purpose of safe supply.”

Safe supply is not meant only to address fentanyl use, but that drug has brought the need to the fore.

“The evolution in rhetoric around fentanyl in particular is interesting — when I previously worked at a chronic pain medical clinic where we regularly prescribed fentanyl, the sentiment around unsafety and risk was not present. That’s because it was being distributed by pharmaceutical companies and prescribed by physicians. When safe supply now gets framed as a source of unsafety and crime, this context disappears. The rhetoric around safe supply has material impacts on people’s health and lives. It is not just an exercise in language,” she says.

To those who wonder about “safe supply spaces” being built in front of schools and daycare centres, De Shalit clarifies: “That's a misunderstanding people commonly have. Safe supply is not a consumption site.

“Consumption sites are of course themselves misunderstood. But to clarify, safe supply refers to a regulated, non-toxic supply administered by a qualified prescriber. It’s not a specific location.”

This two-year research project is comprised of four phases:

1. situational mapping and analysis;
2. interviews with key informants;
3. qualitative analysis of interview data; and
4. knowledge mobilization and dissemination.

Part of the study is a textual analysis looking at government reports and Canadian political and media sources to see how the language is being propelled, or the discourse.

In the winter, De Shalit will start recruiting interview participants.

“We are interested in speaking with frontline workers who either themselves administer safe supply or who have some role in the harm reduction community, to understand how the rhetoric is impacting their work and their clients,” she says.

Everything De Shalit has done since graduating is about taking a critical look at the power dynamics of policy: how policy shapes problems and the effects of such problematizations.

De Shalit started her research career over 15 years ago in the field of anti-human trafficking policy. More than 10 years ago, she became involved in research and advocacy around prison-based harm reduction, and her current work builds on that background.

De Shalit received her PhD in policy studies from Toronto Metropolitan University in 2021.

Join Elder Myrna Kicknosway and vice-president, people, equity, and inclusion Clinton Beckford to lower the Every Child Matters flag at noon Wednesday, Oct. 16, in front of Chrysler Hall Tower.

The flag lowering ceremony will include an honour song and end with a feast in memory of the children who never returned home, residential school survivors, their families, and communities.

The campus community is encouraged to attend this brief ceremony as an important closing of this year’s campus events honouring Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

The University of Windsor Students’ Alliance is “incredibly excited” to host the Coming Home Music Festival to coincide with the Halloween weekend, says president Ghallia Hashem.

The event is set for Oct. 26 at the riverfront Festival Plaza.

“We are merging the high energy of the Coming Home Music Festival with the eerie excitement of Halloween, creating a night filled with musical thrills and festive frights,” Hashem says. “This event is more than just a concert. It’s a celebration of Windsor, its community, and the strong sense of identity that comes with being from this great city.”

The all-ages concert will feature rapper, singer, and songwriter Swae Lee, whose 2018 single “Sunflower” topped the Billboard Hot 100 charts and received two Grammy Award nominations.

“Swae Lee promises to bring a dynamic performance that will light up the night,” says Hashem.

She encourages concertgoers to wear costumes to bring out the Halloween spirit: “Don’t miss out on this wicked fusion of festival excitement and seasonal spookiness.”

Tickets are $30 plus tax and for sale from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily in the CAW Student Centre, or online through Eventbrite.

The Student Awards & Financial Aid office invites students to revisit their Award Profile in UWinsite Student as many application deadlines are approaching.

The 2024-25 Award Profile/Application portal was launched on Aug. 1, allowing undergraduate students the ability to apply for various merit and need-based scholarships and bursaries.

Graduate students are also able to use this portal to apply for certain merit and need-based graduate specific bursaries as well as awards that are open to both undergraduate and graduate students. Graduate students should also refer to the Graduate Studies website for additional information on graduate scholarship opportunities.

Drop-in session dates for assistance with completing your profile can be found here.

The campus campaign for United Way will close its annual fundraising effort with a wrap-up event today — Friday, Oct. 11 — that will feature a prize draw for donors.

UWindsor employees who supported the charity will be eligible to win one of three extra vacation days or one of two annual campus parking passes.

The event is set for 10 a.m. on Microsoft Teams. Click here to join.

The University has declared some varied shop items for sale by bid as Disposal File 2091.

Available are:

• a two-piece heavy duty construction desk;
• a three-drawer filing cabinet; and
• a Powerfist tabletop drill press.

Click here for more photos, item details, and instructions on submitting bids.