ABSTRACT

How might those of us located within post-secondary institutions support students who have experience of the mental health system in a meaningful way? Drawing on scholarship in social movement studies and a case study in Ontario, Canada, I distinguish between the prevailing mental health and wellness offerings of educational institutions and distinct forms of grassroots organising led by and for mad-identified students. This paper reflects on my past engagement with mad student intra-university organising in Ontario. Sifting through archival materials, personal writing and correspondence, I contemplate how my involvement as a past organiser in a radical student-run peer support and advocacy group has shaped and informed my scholarship within the field of Mad Studies. Connections are made between the activist knowledge-practices fostered within mad student groups and the growth of Mad Studies in Canada. Building from social movement studies, I argue for supporting and engaging in activism alongside politicised students who are organising on campuses to confront inequitable social relations, on their own terms. Doing so requires critically unpacking white dominant hegemonic ways of thinking about what constitutes ‘mental health and wellness’ from a student perspective.

摘要

我们这些大专院校的人如何以有意义的方式支持有心理健康系统经验的学生？借鉴社会运动研究的奖学金和加拿大安大略省的案例研究，我区分了教育机构流行的心理健康和保健服务以及由疯狂学生领导和服务的不同形式的草根组织。本文回顾了我过去参与安大略省疯狂学生大学内部组织的活动。通过筛选档案材料、个人写作和信件，我思考了我作为一个激进的学生运行的同伴支持和倡导团体的过去组织者的参与如何塑造和影响了我在疯狂研究领域的学术成就。疯狂学生团体中培养的激进知识实践与加拿大疯狂研究的发展之间建立了联系。基于社会运动研究，我主张支持和参与激进主义，与政治化的学生一起在校园里组织起来，以自己的方式面对不公平的社会关系。这样做需要从学生的角度批判性地解析白人主导的霸权思维方式，思考什么构成“心理健康和保健”。