We’re excited to announce the return of the @UWRaise’s 2024 XChanges annual conference on Saturday, October 5th! 🎉
In the aftermath of COVID-19, the stark reality emerged that many individuals struggle with mental health issues. Today, the importance of mental well-being remains, especially among students. Regrettably, BIPOC communities still encounter significant barriers in accessing crucial mental health resources, perpetuated by oppressive systemic structures and white privilege. As a result, there exists an alarming gap in people receiving the necessary assistance to address or recognize their mental health challenges.
Dissecting Barriers: Mental Wellness from a Racialized Lens
XChanges 2024 is committed to dismantling oppressive systemic barriers within BIPOC spaces and weaving together the experiences and ideologies of racialized health care physicians. By highlighting the insufficient support received by BIPOC communities, our aim is to significantly impact students’ mental health, and prioritize their well-being. By including the nine dimensions of wellness for racialized students to learn and understand mental health, we are on a mission to foster a community that embraces the mind, creating an environment where students feel empowered to seek and receive the support they need comfortably.
What is XChanges?
Community building is one of RAISE’s three pillars, which is about engaging with the Waterloo community through events. We achieve this by hosting different events, both big and small. Our annual event, called XChanges, is a conference that is usually an opportunity for us to invite external folks to talk about their experiences or share their insight based on a given theme.
The conference will feature inspiring speakers, engaging workshops and talented artists. Join us for this educational and empowering experience where we can unite and embrace mental wellness together! 💪❤️
🌟Save the Date & RSVP below! 🌟
Speakers
Session 1: Melissa Star Ireland
“Accessing our Whole Selves on our Journey to Wellness “
Using a gift-based, strength-based approaches, this session with share understandings of a Anishinnabe medicine wheel framework to see how the four aspects of self (physical, mentally, emotionally and spiritually) are working together to provide practical ways to guide us in our healing journeys, especially when working to achieve wholism and balance. Recognizing that we all come from ancestral connections and that we don’t come to this world fully formed, participants will come to recognize that not only do we stand on the shoulders of those who have come before us, but that this understanding can help show the way to where we could go. Together, let’s find ways we can all reconnect with our own ancestral wisdom in healing and goal setting applications. Smudging and a medicine teaching will be a part of this session.
Melissa Ireland, RSW, MSW, Director of Indigenous Relations (she/her) is known to be a wholistic social work practitioner, a mental health and a community development advocate. She has extensive experience in student support, strategy, and communications in the post-secondary sector. Guided by having opportunities to be contributed to just as much as she gets to contribute to others, Melissa is known to hold ethical spaces in counselling sessions, workshops, trainings, circle facilitation and social justice conversations. Melissa is Mississauga Anishinaabe kwe, a member of Curve Lake First Nation.
Session 2: Adrian Pivott-Dyer
Adrian is a specialized counselor for Black students at the University of Waterloo, dedicated to promoting mental health awareness and support within the Black community. With extensive experience in the social sector, he has worked with inner-city populations in Toronto, including Regent Park, Jane and Finch, and Rexdale. Additionally, his international work spans Latin communities in El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and Hamilton, as well as experiences in Trinidad. This diverse background enhances his culturally sensitive approach to mental health.
Throughout his career, Adrian has been committed to dismantling stigma and fostering resilience, viewing mental health as a vital aspect of overall well-being. In this presentation, he will explore the intersection of race and mental health, addressing the specific barriers faced by Black students and offering strategies for creating a supportive environment. Join Adrian for an insightful discussion aimed at empowering individuals and promoting healing within our communities.
Session 3: Dr. Johonna McCants-Turner
“We’re just telling stories”: Story-sharing as healing justice
This workshop explores how sharing stories of racial trauma and resilience can serve as a pathway to collective healing and social justice.
Dr. Johonna McCants-Turner (she/her) is a Black feminist scholar and educator deeply informed by participation in liberatory anti-violence movements. In addition to serving as Associate Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Waterloo, she is a co-founder of Life Comes From It, a grant-making and movement-building Circle in the U.S.
Session 4: Selam Debs
Selam is a Black Ethiopian queer woman, an antiracism educator, an anti-oppression coach, a social justice advocate, a student in dismantling anti-Black racism, an accomplice in dismantling anti-Indigenous racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and an advocate in 2SLGBTQ+ & disability rights through an intersectional lens.
She is the founder of Juici Yoga, a yoga and meditation instructor, a restorative yoga teacher trainer, a holistic life coach, a reiki master, and a Lululemon Ambassador.
Selam is, first and foremost, A MOTHER. Selam is a singer, songwriter, poet, and practitioner of self-acceptance, self-love, and radical compassion.
Selam’s Antiracism work is rooted in the understanding that we must acknowledge and identify the insidiousness of white supremacy before we can dismantle colonial belief systems. The process of undoing, unlearning and re-educating is necessary for white communities to embark on, to support the healing journey for our racialized communities.
Selam has been a board member of Project UP, the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region (SASCW) and the Women’s Entrepreneur Centre of Laurier University and co-chair of Black Parent Council KW.
You can learn more about Selam at www.selamdebs.com
Questions related to the event? Email raise@wusa.ca
For updates, follow @UWRaise on Instagram!
Disclaimer: Photographers & videographers will record this event. Images and audio may be broadcast, reproduced, and/or made available in print publications, online or on mobile devices, and may form part of one or more audio-visual productions intended for initial release on the internet, television and on home or mobile devices. By attending this event, you are consenting to the use of your appearance, image, and voice in the production and in any promotion or use of the production in any media throughout the world.
All attendees must fill out the following waiver and may not be admitted to the event if you have not filled it out. You will be emailed a confirmation after your submission.
Event is subject to change. Visit this page for the most up to date details.