Reflection Paper On Mental Health

Reflection Paper #2

I feel like the last two weeks have personally been physically and mentally draining. However, some of the techniques we have been practicing in class have become part of my coping methods. Besides midterms, papers and other school related projects, I have been struggling with my health. I was in and out of the hospital a few times—including impromptu emergency room visits—and fights with family members. I have been less focused on my activism and social justice work and my mindfulness, or attempts at being mindful, have been targeted at my personal life instead. Although we discuss mindfulness in context of our work in social justice, everything we discuss applies to our daily interactions.

Wanting to implement or improve justice for others calls us to abide to a certain set of rules and ethics in our lives outside of our work. For example, it would be hypocritical for me to advocate for undocumented immigrants to be guaranteed fair wages and withhold such a wage from an undocumented

This week I participated in a panel on mental health and body image. Keeping this in mind, as well as the tips from our tough conversations workshop, I definitely tailored my narrative, the words I chose to the audience—many of whom suffer from Anorexia and Bulimia. I also offered to change the format from a question and answer panel to a circle, similar to the talking circles we have in class This helped facilitate dialogue and made the panelists and attendees more comfortable speaking to each other. One of the powers of the talking circles over the use of podiums and stages is that it eliminates the hierarchical systems and norms that we often see in lectures, in our homes, church,