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<\/a>\u201c[DeStress Fest is] something that the society likes to host, as it allows us to give some powerful tools to students for helping to cope with the everyday stresses of being a student. Some of those tools might be mindfulness activities, expert advice, and some are more fun things like playing with dogs or popping bubble wrap. Since it\u2019s a student society event, we can\u2019t not bring food, too, so there will be that,\u201d says Park. \u201cThis year will be no different\u2014we\u2019re hoping to get some tai chi, some yoga instructors in, some therapy dogs, and we are also bringing in a climbing wall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Camosun counsellor Chris Balmer is one of the external resources the CCSS consults for DeStress Fest; he says that the event gives the college an opportunity to show that student mental well-being provides a direct link to academic success.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s important to have an event like this because the college needs to step up, recognize, and provide physical examples and evidence that student well-being matters and that student well-being is intricately connected to academic progress and success,\u201d says Balmer. \u201cThere\u2019s sometimes a lot of talk about self care, care for the caregiver, and looking after yourself, but, in reality, what students often experience is that that\u2019s all well and good to say, but they don\u2019t have time or space for that, due to so many out-of-school commitments like work, family, and friends. Typically, students don\u2019t maintain themselves as a top priority when it comes to taking care of people. It\u2019s often taking care of other people first and themselves last, or never.\u201d<\/p>\n
Park says that holding the DeStress Fest is just one way for the CCSS to do its part in helping students to maintain their mental health. He notes that staff limitations prevent the CCSS from holding the fest at both campuses.<\/p>\n
\u201cStudents are under a big squeeze of pressure, and it\u2019s one of the purposes of the student society to help students cope with those stresses. So if one of those ways is DeStress Fest, then we will keep having DeStress Fest,\u201d says Park. \u201cThe biggest thing that\u2019s different this year is that the event is at Lansdowne instead of Interurban. We switch events back and forth to get campus parity, so our sustainability [event] is at Interurban this year. It\u2019s mostly the nature of the beast that prevents us from having DeStress Fest at both campuses. We\u2019d have to ship all the items, get all our folks to the other campus, and DeStress Fest is mainly an \u2018all hands on deck\u2019 event, so we\u2019d have to reduce some our front-line services that we offer to students, and that\u2019s not good for students, when they can\u2019t access health and mental programs.\u201d<\/p>\n