+ Soccer allstars

College athletes say it takes

Lunar details

Students spent weeks cutting

Outbound art

Metal SkyTrain art draws focus

more than awards to propel them into an athletic career. P8

wreaths. P7

intricate patterns into red paper

to city life, space and the notion of home. langaravoice.ca

PRODUCED BY LANGARA JOURNALISM STUDENTS| WWW.LANGARAVOICE.CA

FEBRUARY 7, 2019 VOL. 51 NO. 01 > VANCOUVER, B.C.

Noriko Kobayashi demonstrates taiko drumming at a class on Jan. 25 at the Moberly Arts and Cultural Centre. 14 Dower PHOTO

Hope for quicker access

New mental health framework commits to improve services

By KRISTIAN TREVENA

angara has finally released

its Mental Health Frame-

work, which aims to

increase mental health awareness and initiatives on campus. Some students are hoping the framework will live up to its commitments and improve on difficult-to-access services at the college.

The framework, which was announced in November 2018, is a three-year plan consisting of commitments to “set the foun- dation for a mentally healthy campus.” Its 2018 and 2019 commitments include fostering warm, welcoming, safe spaces within and beyond the class- room; integrating mental health and accommodating information into curriculums, classrooms and orientations; and increasing oppor- tunities for various types of mental health training.

Hanniya Zohdi, a student at Langara, said she hopes this frame- work will not only erase the stigma around mental health, but provide quicker response times from coun- sellors. In the past, Zohdi said she has had to wait up to two weeks for an appointment.

“Because my appointment was scheduled two weeks later, it was harder for me to come in for my

appointment on a day that I didn’t have school because of the cultural stigma at home. If they found out that I was seeking a counsellor, that would have caused more trouble,” Zohdi said. “It would have been so much easier for me to see someone that day or the next during school hours, so I didn’t have to leave the house and seek help.”

While some campuses offer personalized contact services to

students enrolled at the school which allow them to text or call and immediately get mental health assistance, Langara does not.

Tim Charters, assistant depart- ment chair of Langara counselling, said that while wait times for coun- sellor appointments are consis- tent across most post-secondary campuses, Langara is trying to improve their system.

“We're constantly looking for

ways to be as responsive as possi- ble,” Charters said.

Tanya Miller, Langara’s mental health initiatives consultant, said the framework was created to better streamline mental health services that already exist. One of the goals of the framework is to encourage help-seeking behaviour.

“The overall objective is to change the culture on campus,” Miller said.

500 450 400 350 300 250 200

Anxiety

Interpersonal difficulties

Counselling Services

Top 5 reasons for counsellor visits in the 2017-2018 school year

Depression

Stress

Self-esteem

Source: Langara College mental health framework. KE.SE4 FRANZKE ILLUSTRATION

Men fill the

Seats

Gender forum attendance reverses trend

By JENNIFER BLAKE

en outnumbered women three-to-one in a recent gender-focused talk on

campus — a shocking reversal of the typical attendance trend, according to a Langara philosophy instructor who says women usually fill the seats.

Kurt Preinsperg, who led last week’s Philosophers’ Jam, "Women & Men: Which Sex Has it Tougher?,"said he was surprised that so many men attended.

He said when he took a women’s studies class at UBC in the late 1980s, there were only three men and 35 women in the course.

“In my judgment, it has to do with men feeling that they don't need consciousness raising around rela- tionship issues,” Preinsperg said.

Preinsperg said when he first arrived at Langara he offered to teach men’s studies courses, but soon realized that it was mainly women who took men’s studies, too.

“I think the time is right for a men’s studies course at Langara,” Preinsperg said.

Michael Cobbler, a philosophy student and attendee, said he’s glad he went to hear the discussion.

“T loved it. I enjoyed the discourse,” Cobbler said. “An exploration of the question was really satisfying to me.”

University of Calgary professor Michael Kehler, who specializes in masculinities studies, said he attri- butes the lack of male participation in gender discussions to a number of issues, including the inability to reflect critically, and in some cases, privilege.

Kehler said he thinks that, conver- sations around masculinities and expression of masculinity are often perceived by males as “common sense conversations.”

“There’s this sense that there’s no need to discuss it because in a sense, we own it,” Kehler said.

Preinsperg said that non-binary and transgender experiences were not topics raised in this Philoso- phers’Jam because people who don't identify with their biological sex face their own unique struggles, and there was a limited time to cover the issue.