Haven J-P.
UVic Student Mental Health Guest Blogger
Hello! My name is Haven and I am an MSc. Candidate here at UVic. Although my research looks at the effects of changing climate on streams here in Western Canada, I have become overwhelmingly fascinated and passionate about mental health and all of its inherent intricacies. In the space I took between degrees, I found myself facing up to my own mental health struggles for the first time—and although it was incredibly difficult, through the challenges I also experienced amazing personal growth and insight…which is something I would never wish to trade in.
New to Victoria, I am finding myself falling in love with this city more and more each day. My true loves are the outdoors: camping, paddling, hiking, as well as yoga, family, cooking real nourishing food from scratch and indulging in deliciously good novels (if there is a dragon on the cover, my inner child wakes right up with glee). I could not be more grateful to be alive and well in a city so full of beauty and possibility. Thank you for reading some of my thoughts: I hope that in some small way, I can help to disentangle the stigma attached to mental illnesses and the like, and help others to thrive as I muddle my own way through my 20’s. Cheers!
Be Who You Are, Love Who You Are
University for many is the first-time individuals come to terms with their mental health. I think this is one of the first generations where talking about mental health is not only okay but encouraged. Until university I wasn’t able to understand or accept that I am...
Reflecting on University and Anxiety
Six years later and I am less than six months away from graduating with my BScN. Nursing School and university in general has pushed me to great lengths. It’s hard to believe that six years ago I left my hometown to attend the University of Victoria. The past couple...
Student Mental Health Blog Contest 3rd Place: Solstice Blues
Coming home to Alaska in December feels like retreating into a snow globe. Emerald spruce trees are the only color in the winter, and even those are capped with snow. But coming home also means living with too-short days and nineteen-hour nights; we see...
Student Mental Health Blog Contest 2nd Place: Calming Your Racing Mind Using Meditation
“Wow, I finally feel like a human again”. For the last three years of my degree, this is precisely how I have felt around this time of the year. University―and more specifically, the final exam period―can make me feel like a robot. For me, the last weeks...
Student Mental Health Blog Contest Winner: Ways Into Wellness
University can get stressful. Any university student knows this. For me, the stress comes and goes depending on how many exams or projects I have due that week, but I always make sure to pause and take a moment for myself—no matter how small. I suffer from anxiety,...
3 Steps to Managing Panic in High-Stress Situations
This featured guest blog post is written by Meera, a UVic student majoring in Psychology. Check out her blog "Pause. Breathe. Repeat." to read more! I’m sure you’ve encountered your fair share of panic-inducing high-pressure situations. You check your...
Nature, Art, Sleep & Pray
This is a picture I took on a trip to Red Rock Nevada, a week in this beautiful landscape and my mind felt so relieved. On one of the days we went to Las Vegas instead, and let me tell you, I could feel the anxiety engulf me there. Sometimes it’s hard to quantify the...
Authenticity
Humans are inherently social beings. Even the most introverted among us crave some level of interaction and even physical touch. However, in my life, and I am beginning to find increasingly in others’ as well, relationships have been one of the most harrowing and...
Things People Think They Know About My Diagnoses
“If suffering like hers had any use, she reasoned, it was not to the sufferer. The only way that an individual's pain gained meaning was through its communication to others.” ― Diane Wood Middlebrook, Anne Sexton: A Biography My name is Ilia Fernandez and I’m in my...
Transitions
Autumn is a season of transition. Change. Slowly, the trees are shedding emerald garb in favour of majestic reds, browns and orange. Temperatures are declining, and the first sting of frost becomes apparent as the sun drops away behind the mountains each night. Here,...