The Shine Cast University of Guelph, Wellness Education & Promotion Centre

Our guest this episode is Dr. Chelsea Larsson, a newly minted PHD in Scottish History, who’s also a Writing Specialist with the U of G Library. Chelsea shares what she’s learned about finding balance between academic and work pursuits and her self-care. Her tips? Work in environments that respect your boundaries, find the things that nourish you, and frame every act of self-care as an anti-capitalist, feminist movement. And of course, also visit Learning Services in the Library.

In our second episode of season 3, Marco and Jordie are joined by Farqd, an upper year UoG Wildlife Biology and Conservation student. Over the course of the episode, Farqd takes us through her journey of navigating life and balancing expectations as a young person, a university student, and a daughter. She explains her transition to campus life, molded together with internal battles encompassing identity conflicts, faith, and family dynamics. In an attempt to provide insight into her personal mental health journey, Farqd takes us through a timeline that began with a hesitant and nervous young person that later evolved into someone with the ability to reflect on their experience while learning how to avoid negative self talk, self-blame, and get professional help. 

Trigger warning: Suicide and self-harm
*If you'd like to skip this section around suicidal ideation, we recommend skipping 36:00 to 49:05 min. There will be 3 beeps at 36:00 to prompt you.

In our first episode of Season 3,  Jordie and our new co-host Marco sat down with Bella Mangiapane, a 3rd year U of G student studying Agricultural Science with a minor in Business. Bella gets the conversation started with a struggle that all university students can relate to (especially now) - making social connections. From there Bella shares her story about her on-going mental health journey, and how an unrelated trip to the ER helped Bella to break down her own mental health stigma and begin to get help for what would later be diagnosed as anxiety and manic depression. Join us to hear how Bella has learned to manage her “black and white thinking” and how she has helped her family to learn more about mental health and break down their stigma. 
Trigger Warning for mention of non-suicidal self-injury 

In the final episode of season 2, we hear from Wing Tse, a University of Guelph student pursuing his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, with a minor in Studio Art. In addition to this, he has served in the armed forces and is currently a firefighter. Wing describes his tough upbringing and recalls his struggle with mental health beginning at a very early age - a time where he had limited access to resources and support. He reflects on finally accepting his identity and background, now seeing his story as a chance to be resilient and to extend unspoken empathy. Listen as Wing provides insight into the stigma tainted perception of mental health in male dominated environments, the value of self-development according to a personal definition of what it means to be healthy, and the importance of “prevention and protection rather than isolation and avoidance”.

In this episode we talk with Prof. Matt Demers, an Associate Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Guelph, and streams on Twitch connecting with old friends and students. Matt explains his journey transitioning from high school to university, from his undergrad to his masters, and finally his PhD and professorship. He explores what has helped him through all those changes and the joy he has always had for teaching. He describes his experience with impostor syndrome, social comparison, and managing failure. Through detailing his journey and describing what he did to manage his mental health, Matt shows how experiences of failure are exactly when we learn the most – those are the life changing moments. 

In this episode, we chat with Maryam Maamoun, a University of Guelph student pursuing her Bachelor of Science with a major in Biochemistry and a minor in Microbiology. Beyond her academic focus as a student, she continues to wear multiple hats on campus through her work as a volunteer and as a field hockey player. We hear about Maryam’s experiences with performance over-analyzation leading to anxiety as a goalie, the importance of having a sleep related routine, and some advice she has for all students. Listen to Maryam delve into her journey as an undergraduate juggling a busy schedule and as she opens up about learning to accept the way she’s feeling, even if it isn't “100% awesome and super fantastic” all the time.