Teren reflects on how finding community at uni can benefit mental health

I love a good chat with my friends between classes. It allows me to stop thinking about school’s challenges and put my problems into perspective.

Community matters. We can find it in our friends, our families, our favourite clubs and through university supports. 

When we feel lonely, problems can seem insurmountable. A failed midterm can become failing at life. A bad breakup can be the end of the world.

But life goes on, and there will always be another cup of coffee to find somewhere.

Nothing seems so bad after a tea or hot chocolate.

The U of A has a sweet program that creates more opportunities for chats with sweet treats: Unitea.

Unitea connects students with peers and alumni to chat over a free hot beverage. The website advertises the opportunity to talk about whatever we need. We can talk about school, hopes and worries for the future and whatever else comes to mind..

Similar to the Peer Support Centre, Unitea is run by trained volunteers looking to support students in any way they can. They want a good conversation as much as we do.

You can book a time as an individual, find group sessions or book to speak about SpecialTea topics online.

To be honest, this experience might feel a little forced at first. You might wonder about how the volunteers are strangers with no idea who you are or what you're going through — but that doesn’t stop this from being an important opportunity for connection.

If Unitea isn’t your cup of tea, there are other ways to connect with your peers across campus.

Campus clubs are a great way to make friends.

This has been said again and again, but join the clubs on our campuses. There are too many to count, and there must be one that you could enjoy. 

Clubs can be low commitment, low cost and just plain fun. For example, there’s a fencing club, a creative writing club and even a hide and seek club. 

There are so many clubs that you can simply Google search “[insert interesting topic] club ualberta” and something will appear.

You can even start your own club! The opportunities are endless.

The point is to not isolate yourself and to make friends to laugh with and lean on.

Don’t want to join a club? Make plans with friends.

If you’re feeling intimidated by those options, why not plan a tea or coffee date with friends you already have?

The Daily Grind is a well-known coffee shop on North Campus, but there’s also Tim Hortons, Starbucks and Remedy. Or if you’d like a free option, you can sit in any atrium or common area with your own coffee in a travel mug from home.

I love all the random places to sit on North Campus. In the morning, I sit in AG/FOR. Around lunch, I eat with my friends in CAB. And after my classes, I hang out in SUB. 

You can’t imagine how many people you’ll run into (and have the best conversations with!) if you just go sit in a common area. 

Sitting with a beverage with friends can be the highlight of your day. 

What matters most is that you find your community.

The word “community” can seem like a buzzword, but it’s not. It matters for your mental health and mine. If you need to talk, reach out to the university support network.