CICMH Southern Regional Sharing Circle

The Southern Regional Sharing Circle is an opportunity to capture and honour the lived realities of Indigenous staff and students in post-secondary. Grounded in a wholistic lens, this circle will focus on staff experiences supporting Indigenous students’ mental wellbeing on campus, while sharing the current challenges, successes, and opportunities for improvement. Together, we will reflect on what staff are seeing in Indigenous student mental health, how campuses can improve, and what kinds of support and resources are most needed.

This gathering builds on three years of our Indigenous needs assessment survey. Now, we are looking to listen deeply to Indigenous staff and faculty voices to help guide our next steps. The conversation will also explore how CICMH can continue to provide meaningful support, whether through toolkits, infosheets, webinars, courses, or workshops.

The circle is guided by values of respect, confidentiality, non-judgment, and safety, ensuring a space where experiences and knowledge can be shared openly. We invite Indigenous staff, faculty, and frontline staff working with Indigenous students in universities, colleges, and Indigenous institutes to join this important conversation.

The circle will open with a message from an Elder, smudging (optional), and will continue in a sharing circle format. We will conclude with closing reflections from an Elder. Light refreshments will be provided.

For further information, please contact our Indigenous Post-Secondary Research and Knowledge Lead, Megan VanEvery, at mvanevery@campusmentalhealth.ca.