Grad Minds Executive Meeting #3

Online via Zoom

Monday, September 13th, 2021

Attendees:
Jeffrey Lynham Co-Chair
Curtis D’Hollander Co-Chair
Mao Thao Secretary
Elizabeth Karvasarski Treasurer
Samantha Chang Event Coordinator
Sarah Stapleton Event Coordinator
Vineeth Raveendran Social Media and Marketing Manager
Katie Rose Mental Health Policy Advisor
Alison D’Cruz Share Circle Facilitator
Allison Correia Advocacy Coordinator
Felix Lau Mental Health Policy Advisor
Shraddha Khiwadkar Communications Manager
Audrey Kao Peer Support Lead
Karthik Ganesan Special Guest
Lexi Ewing Special Guest

Regrets:
Rachel MacEwan Event Coordinator
Walter Villanueva Event Coordinator

Actionable for the Meeting

• Everyone – If you have questions about Graduate Wellness Network, please feel
free to email Karthik and Lexi. Their emails are in Slack
• Everyone – if you have any suggestions for workshops/keynote speakers for our
conference please get in touch with an Event Coordinator
• Jeffrey will message Alison D. about future Coffee Chat Events
• Jeffrey will put the Embracing Change Workshop into the UTGSU Digest
 • Curtis will add more information on feedback into the How to Organize Events
Document
• Sam and Felix will work on graphics for the Food Insecurity Survey
• Allison C. and Curtis will work on description of executive positions for CCR
• Curtis will look into potential trainings for Grad Mind Executives to take together
• Curtis will let Jeffrey know if he receives intake forms for the Conflict Resolution
Event
• Jeffrey will ask Julian about trends/things that may come out of the Conflict
Resolution Event that Grad Minds need to be aware of
• Everyone – Please try to have consistent advertisements for each event so that
people can find it easier

Meeting will be called to order at 5:30pm.

1. Meeting Comes to Order 5:32 pm

a. Adoption of agenda
b. Minutes from August 30, 2021 Meeting

2. Graduate Wellness Network – GWN (Special guests Karthik & Lexi)

a. Karthik and Lexi joined us to talk about a new organization called Graduate
Wellness Network – GWN
b. Lots of student groups but no communication between the groups –
leading to low attendance in activities, mixed messages…
c. What can be done about this problem? Create centralized space to
increase awareness
d. Vision of GWN – serve as a focal point for graduate student mental health
groups
i. Cross-promotion
ii. Fostering best practices
iii. Connecting groups with stakeholders
e. Logistics
i. Website with calendar, resources, information on funding and
space to collect feedback
 ii. Slack/Teams for internal discussion – restricted to 2 members from
each group and open to students on consultations groups
f. Help from Grad Minds
i. Drafting best practices
ii. Updating “starting a Mental Health (MH) group” document
iii. Outreach
g. Questions from Grad Mind Executives
i. What’s the criteria for the groups who can participate?
1. Groups who include graduate students but does not have to
be restricted to just graduate students
2. Admin would like GWN to be open to expanding for
undergraduate and graduate students
ii. Will the events be filtered?
1. Yes, events will be filtered so people can choose what they
would like to attend
iii. What is the goal for GWN?
1. Looking for staff support
2. Sustaining phase – add events from groups and advertise
iv. What is the buy in for students/admin/groups to participate in
GWN?
1. Make the process easy for everyone
v. If you have additional questions please feel free to email Karthik
and Lexi. Their emails will be put into our Slack
h. Volunteers for GWN representatives
i. Katie Ross & Curtis D’Hollander

3. Project/Event Updates
a. Conference Theme – Sam
i. Everyone – if you have any suggestions please get in touch with an
Event Coordinator
b. Games night (Social 1) review – Rachel & Sarah
i. Very well received with 44 people attending and the moderators
did a great job!
ii. Definitely should be run again
c. Coffee Chat 1 review – Alison D.
 i. About 20 people showed up
ii. Definitely should be run again
iii. An outside coffee chat ?
1. Have to be an area that can accommodate a large number
of people and restrict the number of people
2. Jeffrey will message Alison D. about potential coffee chat
3. Suggestion – Yonge and Bloor because there’s a number of
coffee/tea/bubble tea places and then a stroll to Queen’s
Park/Victoria College/Philosopher’s Walk
d. Fire pit social (peer support) preview – Audrey
i. Will be held on Wednesday September 15, 2021
ii. Max of 25 people
iii. Workshop is currently full
e. Embracing Changes (Workshop 1) preview – Sam
i. Need to advertise more
ii. Currently 15 participants
iii. Jeffrey will run it through the UTGSU Digest
f. Yoga – Jeffrey
i. Josh – 8 weeks in the Fall semester on Wednesday
ii. Gabrielle – once a month on Tuesday
g. Others?
i. Elizabeth will teach kickboxing starting in October!
h. Issues with organizing events – Curtis
i. How to organize events Document
1. Alison D. – Does social/informal events need to have
feedback?
a. Feedback would still be good because it’s our first
time doing social/informal events
2. Curtis will add more information on the Document about
feedback
3. Feedback Survey – QR responses and link in the chat
i. Land acknowledgement – Curtis, Mao, Felix, Walter, & Elizabeth
i. Some progress and a google document started
ii. Next meeting will have some things to share
iii. Will be put on the agenda for next meeting
4. SGS Mental Health Advisory Committee
a. Leave of absence policy feedback – Katie
i. Would like to have some anonymous feedback from students who
have taken a leave of absence
ii. Some questions were asked and Katie will bring it to the committee
b. Other gaps Grad Minds can address
i. Food insecurity – Felix & Curtis
1. Still a work in progress
2. Sam and Felix will work on graphics
3. Hoping to share results in next meeting

5. CCR update
a. Allison C. and Curtis
i. Deadline of October 25th, 2021
ii. Need a description of executive positions so future executives will
get CCR credits

6. Grad Minds Exec Training – Curtis

a. Looking for interest, are we interested in doing mental health training
together
b. Will follow up in a few meetings
c. Suggestions
i. Chad will be a good go person to start
ii. Ontario Mental Health First Aid Training

7. Conflict Resolution update – Julian

a. 6 slots
b. Curtis will get an intake form from someone signing up, please let Jeffrey
know
c. Felix and Katie – should they be a part of this? Might be too invasive
d. Jeffrey will ask Julian about trends/things that we need to be aware of

8. Any other business

a. Link to subscribe our Listserv on our social media
 i. Vineeth has started adding it on our social media
b. UTGSU Newsletter/Advertising – Let’s make sure we have consistency with
events so that people can find it easier

9. Adjournment at 6:45 pm

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Mao Thao
Secretary