Online chronicle details ways St. F.X. community dealt with mental challenges created by pandemic
It took a lot of courage to leave my family behind and start fresh in a completely different part of the world. But believe me, the ride has been worth it.
I am an undergraduate student at St. F.X. University in Antigonish in the forensic concentration program in psychology. I came to this beautiful East Coast in the fall of 2019 after finishing my schooling in India.
I have achieved many milestones over the past two years, with each step taking me closer to my goals. With the help of a Xaverian Leaders grant I received in the summer of 2020, I conceptualized and developed the Stories of Hope. This website documents experiences around the pandemic and the psychological and emotional stress faced by people and how they turned it into hope and opportunity. The project provided deep insights into the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of students and the wider community, which aligns well with my goal of becoming a psychologist.
The long-term impact of COVID-19 on mental health may take time to become fully visible, but I strongly believe my work on the Stories of Hope substantially increased my understanding of the issues associated with the pandemic. The Stories of Hope project gave me a chance to document history and write a record of what all we are going through so people in the future will read and know about it.
It was near spring last year that the university closure was announced due to the pandemic. The journey from uncertainty and despair to hope and positivity a year later is what amazes me the most. I was lucky to capture some of these experiences through The Stories of Hope. These narratives are motivating and inspirational and show how to live with the new normal.
The project also helped me observe and feel up-close how the indomitable human spirit fights against all odds when the chips are down and emerges stronger from adversity. At the end of the day, it’s this human spirit that keeps us alive and kicking and is a master key to any psychological or emotional challenges we face.
Canada’s East Coast is famous for its warm hospitality, rich culture, and natural beauty. But during my work on the Stories of Hope website, I also experienced first-hand the response of the communities to the pandemic. How they collectively built resilience and helped each other fight the adversity. How a librarian learned how to make masks online when the pandemic stuck and distributed them among people in the community. Or how an entrepreneur worked with the administration to plan local employment generation opportunities.
One particular experience worth mentioning here is the “Neighbours Helping Neighbours” program, where a community of volunteers helped off-campus students who were self-isolating through supportive phone calls and texts, delivery of groceries, meals, and whatever was needed.
The list is endless. Once this pandemic is over, there will continue to be a need to build a stronger and more resilient society with its foundations built around people. The East Coast communities give me hope because of their spirit of collective responsibility and the inherent strength to overcome adversity.
I feel lucky I was able to avail myself of the unique opportunities St. F.X. University offers to students, both academic and co-scholastic. The courses are designed to prepare us to address real-world problems. In a complex field of understanding the finer aspects of the thought process, sound trade craft is of most importance. That’s exactly where these courses laid the foundation for me.
As a mental health first aid support provider with the university’s Peer Support Program, I act as a first responder for the students on their mental health concerns, providing them guidance on available resources both on and off campus.
I volunteered at St. Martha’s Hospital last year as part of the Service-Learning Program at the university and worked closely with patients in the progressive care unit. It helped advance my social work and counseling skills, as many of the patients were also diagnosed with mental health issues.
I’m also a member of Jack.org, a mental health organization that has chapters in universities across Canada. I also substantially contributed to the drafting of the mental health policy at St. F.X., working closely with the health and counseling centre and senior members of the administration.
I finished my schooling in India, where I majored in psychology with 99 per cent and a 100 per cent in Economics. The all-round experience St. F.X. offers and the opportunities it creates for the students attracted me to it and I was able to get both the Residence Scholarship and the National Entrance Scholarship.
There has been no looking back for me. In fact, St. F.X. has created an endless world of possibilities for me. And most important of all, it instilled strategic leadership in me, as much a function of doing as of thinking.
The year 2020 was challenging for all of us. It wasn’t just COVID-19, but a number of other developments such as #BlackLivesMatter, a social movement to protest racially-motivated violence, that shaped our outlook during the year. As the News Section Editor for the Xaverian Weekly newspaper at the university for the year 2020-21, it provided me ample opportunity to highlight student voices and amplify issues such as democracy in student elections, queer awareness, racism and its discourses, and concerns facing indigenous groups.
My East Coast experience has taught me the value of giving back to the community that’s helping shape my future. It motivates me to push my limits and work to the best of my abilities. The East Coast experience also forms the basis of my long journey to becoming a forensic therapist to help solve mental health issues in the world.
