A part of 3.2: Lightning Talk session.

Departmental approaches to increasing awareness and decreasing stigma towards mental health in faculty and students
Charlotte Pashley, Administrative Staff, Pharmacology & Toxicology
Michelle Arnot, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Pharmacology & Toxicology
Vince Lam, Instructor, Pharmacology & Toxicology
Aleksandra Marakhovskaia, Graduate Student, Pharmacology & Toxicology
Alison Jee, Graduate Student, Pharmacology & Toxicology
Ruth Ross, Professor and Chair, Pharmacology & Toxicology

The Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology has developed a toolkit of diverse approaches to help increase awareness of and decrease stigmatization towards mental health issues for both students and faculty. This initiative was developed in response to the loss of a community member, and with the goal to improve community while creating potential safety nets. The toolkit addresses a variety of factors and broadly focuses on improving community by fostering psychological safety, normalizing vulnerability, and improving awareness and education towards mental health. The toolkit includes faculty-facing documents which provides information on courses of action and student resources , a student-facing Quercus portal to engage and connect with students and allow for growth of community learning, a graduate student-led “Pharma-coffee” event series that evolved into “PharmTalk”, and Zoom-based discussion groups and mental health workshop series created for peer-to-peer support and conversation about the experiences specific to graduate and post-graduate trainees. Additionally, a short series of peer videos to help put a voice to student mental health challenges and journeys were produced to share with students to reduce stigma associated with asking for help. Capitalizing on the use of technology and remote learning strategies, the Department has attempted to improve participation while at the same time increasing awareness of mental health issues within its communities. In parallel, by providing resources and supports to faculty as front-line identifiers, we attempt to build a more compassionate, connected, and resilient, community of learners and a framework for potential replication of strategies for the future.