Cortlandt Bursey-Reece ’18 S+MH Board Election Candidate Statement

Stanford + Mental Health’s mission is “to improve mental health at Stanford by driving systemic and cultural change on campus through education and direct action.” What does this mean to you and what do you hope to achieve by year’s end through your leadership of the S+MH Board/Organization? *

Improving mental health at Stanford to me means continually working toward a point at which all students can thrive. This includes both removing barriers that impair them from doing so, and giving them tools that actively facilitate them doing so. This can look different for people from different communities and with different experiences — there’s no magic bullet that will “fix” mental health for everyone on this campus. Although our intentions are good, we should recognize that we’re limited to our own perspectives, and so, when considering projects, we should try our best to prioritize the experiences of those who are affected by our projects, as well as considering our inclusivity of those who may not be. S+MH has a lot to take advantage of- it’s made up of caring and engaged students and has many close connections with incredible advisors. If we take care to listen to our fellow students about things we can do to help, and listen to our advisors about how to best go about doing those things, we have a lot of potential to positively impact mental health on this campus.

What is one idea for a project that you have for next year? What makes it uniquely fit to Stanford + Mental Health as a student organization and in terms of our mission, advisors, resources etc? *

With more and more RFs opting not to have a PHE, the promotion of wellness in dorms, particularly those with primarily underclassmen populations, can easily be overlooked. Freshman year can overwhelming and exhausting, and sophomore year’s significant change in environment and pace can bring feelings of isolation and helplessness. Introducing more mental health awareness to the staff of these dorms won’t eliminate the problem, but could improve the experiences of these students. When I did RA training in the fall, the mental health-related information I received was not only inadequate, but problematic and triggering, and I felt like I lacked a lot of basic knowledge on how to approach situations that actually ended up arising throughout the year. Of course, altering the already-brief RA training won’t make anyone fully equipped to handle everything, but it could make an big difference in the way student staff approach and deal with potentially sensitive situations. Another solution could be additional specialized training for “wellness RAs,” who’d fill the niche traditionally occupied by the PHE. This training could be individualized with the needs of the dorm’s specific communities in mind (a sophomore dorm presents different challenges from a freshman dorm, for example) which could be achieved by working with the previous staff and RFs who’ve had experience working in these houses. Our advisors can assist in developing training materials and connecting us with existing resources that would be appropriate for the project, as well as guiding us through the ResEd bureaucracy of supplementing the training. I think there is a lot of potential to directly improve campus mental health- student staff are so often the first resort for struggling students, and better equipping them to help could go a long way.

Community engagement is a key to the success of projects in mental health. What is the community that your project serves and/or affects? And how do you engage with them to incorporate their needs into your project? *

Working with student staff to improve mental health in dorms presents a unique opportunity to engage with and directly impact different communities. Ethnic-themed dorms, for example, are important community-building spaces, and their RAs and ETAs are often leaders in these communities who are intimately familiar with the challenges and needs faced by them. By working with them, we’d be able to better understand how specifically to tailor this project to fit different communities (without imposing our own preconcieved notions of their problems/needs) and potentially help drive forward conversations about mental health in spaces where it may not be commonly discussed.

There are many different entities and organizations at Stanford working on Mental Health including school administrators, other CAPS/Vaden, mental health groups, etc. Furthermore, there are people and organizations working on mental health outside Stanford. How do you work with these organizations? What pitfalls do we have to consider in doing so? And how do we not reduplicate the efforts of others while focusing our efforts on what we can accomplish effectively? *

S+MH would hopefully be in ongoing contact with all other groups/entities on campus with a similar/overlapping mission as ours. With this communication, we can be informed on projects and initiatives that are planned or underway, as well as offering our help if we have the capacity to do so and if both groups would find the partnership beneficial (keeping in mind that we should be respectful of a group’s desired independence). Although there are currently many different organizations working on mental health, I think S+MH has a lot of unique potential in the combined efforts of the group’s varied branches and the potential collaboration between them- bringing together students from Policy + MH and CS + MH, for example, could lead to a really impactful project, and I’d try to foster collaboration between the groups next year. Ultimately, through open communication and our own creativity, we can continually work toward finding our own role in Stanford’s mental health scene while supplementing, rather than stampeding, the efforts of others.

How do you support a culture of support and mental wellness within S+MH? What is your role in this and what actions can you take to support this. *

Though our group’s focus is improving mental health at Stanford, we have to keep in mind that we’re Stanford students with mental health needs of our own; as important as the group’s work is, no one in it should ever overexert themselves or let their S+MH obligations become toxic or damaging to their own mental health. I’d try to encourage the practice of self-care when it’s needed, and the practice of community care when we have the capacity. This would start off with the building of a strong community within the members of S+MH so that everyone feels comfortable being open about their limitations, asking for help, and leaning on each other. I’d do semi-regular check-ins with the group members, both personally and at the start of meetings/events, to encourage transparency about the current state of our own mental health and our capacity for work. I’d put together events for the group during difficult parts of the quarter that center destressing and caring for ourselves/each other. I’d celebrate our successes while communicating that it’s still ok to fail. Finally, I’d ask for feedback on ways I can make everyone’s experience with S+MH as fulfilling, enjoyable, and stress-free as possible.