UBC piloted a Wellness Mentors Program aimed at supporting IBPOC students, however it is no longer running.
From September 2021-April 2022, UBC piloted a Wellness Mentors Program to support IBPOC students in the community. IBPOC students had the chance to “connect with fellow IBPOC students, or Wellness Mentors, and have conversations about shared experiences and ideas.” The program will no longer be running in its piloted form, but UBC says it is still committed to supporting IBPOC’s mental health through various other programs.
Levonne Abshire, director of health equity, promotion & education at UBC, spoke to The Ubyssey about this pilot program. She said the program was created to address gaps brought to light at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic surrounding racism and supporting the IBPOC community at UBC.
“The movement around anti-racism [pushed us] to connect with students about what those needs are as it comes to health equity practices and programs and services,” Abshire said.
Abshire said her unit consulted with various student groups, including “affinity-based student groups that do identify as IBPOC” She said they learned “that there was a desire to have more specific programming that was more targeted.”
Abshire stressed the ending of this program does not mean UBC is ending support specifically for IBPOC individuals.
In a follow-up statement to The Ubyssey, Student Health and Wellbeing stated based on the data collected from the pilot program, The Wellness Center learned how to better support IBPOC student health and wellbeing.
“Although the IBPOC Wellness Mentor Program will not be offered in its piloted form, UBC Student Health and Wellbeing is committed to supporting IBPOC student health and wellbeing,” it wrote.
Abshire talked at length about numerous current initiatives which aim to support the IBPOC community at UBC, including ‘Beyond Tomorrow Scholars,’ and partnering with UBC Sustainability Ambassadors, Graduate Student Society and Graduate Pathways to Success to facilitate programs and events for IBPOC students.
AMS Peer Support is a student-run wellness initiative which provides “free, confidential, one-on-one peer support for UBC students facing a wide variety of challenges”. The Ubyssey asked Peer Support if they planned any IBPOC-specific support since the Wellness Mentors pilot ending.
In a written statement Eric Lowe, Senior Communications & Marketing Manager with the AMS, stated “as for Peer Support, we [do not] have a program specifically for the IBPOC community at this time, but the service supports students of all backgrounds, including IBPOC students.”
Lowe mentioned Peer Support is “currently working on a workshop targeted to the IBPOC community.” However, “it is still very much in the planning stages ... we hope to launch the workshop in early 2023.”
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