Portland State University (PSU) community has undergone its fair share of tumultuous events in recent years. As a largely commuter campus, it can be difficult to find spaces where one can process hardships and trauma that occur at PSU. Mental health challenges and grief encountered downtown do not need to be faced alone.
The Associated Students of Portland State University’s (ASPSU) Mental Health Awareness Ad-Hoc Committee is holding the Camellia Self-Care Group from Nov. 6 to Nov. 27. The group is committed to providing a space for students to process any grief or mental health struggles they may be experiencing.
“We saw a strong need for spaces like these, where students can come together and feel free to share their feelings in a supportive, safe environment,” stated Karen Agustin-Paz, an ASPSU Senator, in an email. “Everyone has things going on in their daily lives that impact their well-being, and we wanted to create a place where students can address these feelings without judgment – letting them know that there are people who are willing to listen and care for them.”
The self-care group meets on Wednesday evenings from 4:30-5:30 p.m., starting in week 6 and continuing until week 9. The meetings consist of a combination of knowledge and resource sharing, social interaction, supportive dialogue and self-care activities. Each session offers a different form of low-cost self-care that students can engage in with one another.
The first session in week 6 served as a small resource fair—where the Center for Student Health and Counseling (SHAC) and PSU CARES presented the mental health resources they offer.
In week 7, the group met for a 45 minute breathwork session—guided by SKY Breathwork and Meditation, a campus rec club. This week, the session will center around journaling. Students will customize their own journals and listen to a speaker present on the mental health benefits of the practice.
Next week, the group will gather to practice art self-care, aiming to reap the therapeutic benefits of arts and crafts in a social setting.
“We got paints and markers and canvases and we’re just gonna do that while we’re talking,” said Brady Roland, ASPSU Student Body President.
The Camellia Group was created to help students navigate their emotions and any hardships they encountered during their time on the Park Blocks.
“Given everything [that] students feel about Portland State University, mental health resources are a necessity if Portland State Administration would like to see our students flourish,” said Rowan Bean, ASPSU Student Body Vice President. “I think a lot of students on campus have a lot of feelings [both] positive and negative about the current climate of Portland State.”
PSU’s community has endured rising tensions between faculty and administration, budget cuts to various programs and the Spring 2024 protests. Yet even through tumultuous periods, the campus has shown resilience by continuing to provide education to thousands of students.
According to Bean, the reason the group is named after the camellia flower is because it symbolizes inner strength and reflection. In keeping with the name, students are encouraged to listen to one another and create an environment that cultivates mental strength and belonging on campus.
“We need to be checking [in] with each other,” Bean said. “We need to be emphasizing the resources that we have… and advocating for more resources on campus.”
The ASPSU members all emphasized that the self-care group is supposed to be the first step in an ambitious goal to situate mental health as a major priority on campus. Roland and Bean cited a lack of substantial resources and access to basic needs as being at the crux of mental health crises as a whole.
“We know that making people’s situations worse does not help their mental health,” Roland said. “But when we have resources for people so that they have their basic needs covered, their mental health actually has a shot at getting better.”
Roland and Bean called for an expansion of the resources that do exist and the addition of others. One proposal they mentioned was the “basic needs package,” a policy they have been planning and lobbying for—which would provide additional money to the Basic Needs Hub, Food Pantry and PSU Hardship Funds.
“The basic needs package, I lobbied for it last year, and although it didn’t pass, I think this year we will see an influx of advocators for it,” Bean said.
Bean also mentioned that a chair for the Student Advocacy Committee had suggested initiating a mental health day on campus.
“Just a whole day… where students can go to different aspects of campus to practice… good mental health practices,” Bean said.
The Camellia Self-Care Group is only scheduled out for weeks 6–9, though Roland expressed a desire to expand the program.
“We hope to continue this at some point,” Roland said. “This is… what we’re starting with, but we’ve thought about therapy dogs, we’ve thought about a bunch of different stuff.”
The sentiment was echoed in a statement by Agustin-Paz:
“Our goal is to keep creating safe spaces like these and hopefully for longer periods of time. Our journey to advocate for mental health and [the] general well-being of a student doesn’t end here.”