McMaster Student Union services speak on operating services during the pandemic MSU Service directors tell all about their plans for the upcoming hybrid year survivors of gendered violence and promoting Diversity Services is gender equity. Novera Shenin “WGEN is a community-building and extending the services it Features Reporter peer-support service run by and for women, traditionally offers and has trans and non-binary folks, as well as all survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. We hile the pandemic certainly took its toll plans on adopting the longfocus on creating community and non-judgon student life, a group of dedicated mental spaces among these folks through our student leaders have been working tirelessly to established peer-support Safe(r) Space, multi-event campaign weeks maintain essential mental and physical health and peer groups. A big part of our mandate support services. There are many services system used in the past by includes supporting folks through peer-supthat aim to create a safe(r) space on campus port and free resources,” said Neha Shah, the for marginalized communities. The McMaster WGEN, SHEC and PCC to Director of WGEN. Students Union has five such student services: Maccess, a service dedicated to disabled the Women and Gender Equity Network, the further extend its avenues to students on campus, on the other hand, is Student Health Education Center, Maccess , reorienting its disability activism strategy to not Diversity Services and the Pride Community provide support.
W
Center. SHEC is a service for any Mac student looking for health-related support, childcare resources and breast-feeding spaces, free health items such as condoms and pregnancy tests and any other external health resources. “As MSU SHEC, we are a completely peerrun health advocacy, information and resource connection service. We operate under a broad definition of health, recognizing that wellbeing looks and feels different to each person. We provide free health supplies and educational materials and are dedicated to promoting our four strategic priorities: sexual and reproductive health, empowered bodies, substance use and mental wellbeing,” explained Anika Anand, the Director of SHEC. Similarly to SHEC, WGEN offers peer-support services, but these are catered towards
10 | F E AT U R E S
only raise awareness for disabilities on campus, but to actively advocate that disabled students on campus are invaluable to McMaster. “We are a peer-support, community-building and activism organization, run both and by disabled students. We use the term ‘disability’ to include folks who identify as having a disability, mental health concerns, neurodivergence, chronic health conditions and addiction. Our priority this year is to move away from just the recognition that disabled folks exist on campus, to where we recognize disabled folks are valuable on campus,” explainedEmunah Woolf, the Director of Maccess. Diversity Services is extending the services it traditionally offers and has plans on adopting the long-established peer-support system used in the past by WGEN, SHEC and PCC to further extend its avenues to provide support.
www.thesil.ca | Thursday, October 7, 2021
“Diversity Services works on celebration, advocacy and generally uniting all folks across campus that identify as religious, cultural and other minorities. We are joining Maccess, PCC, WGEN and SHEC in their practices with the pilot of our new peer-support services. These are taking place as community circles that are closed spaces for people to come in and find people with similar intersections of identity as themselves,” explainedSofia Palma Florido, the Director of Diversity Services. Amidst the uncertainties of an entirely online 2020-2021 academic year, and a hybrid 2021-2022 year, these MSU services have been compelled to adapt to these circumstances, and drastically alter how they reach and provide their services to students. Across the services, the directors found offering services
