[Rolland]

Hi Alexandra, I totally get where you’re coming from, and it’s great that you’re bringing up this question for discussion. Mental wellness can indeed be a complex topic in the context of privilege. It’s not necessarily a privilege on its own, but rather, it often intersects with other aspects of privilege and disadvantage.

When we talk about mental wellness as a form of privilege, we’re often referring to the availability of resources and support that can make it easier for some individuals to maintain good mental health. It’s not about having inherently “better” mental health but having the means to access therapy, cope with stress, and generally take care of one’s well-being.

That said, it’s a topic that can be interpreted in various ways, and your perspective is valid. It’s great that you’re open to hearing different viewpoints – that’s how we learn and grow as a community. Looking forward to hearing more thoughts on this!

[Danish]

Hi Everyone,

Thank you to Alexandra for posting this question. Having gone through the modules now, I feel very grateful for having access to this education. In terms of the question you have posed, I think it makes sense how having access to work on one’s mental health journey is a privilege. While some companies in the GTA have started recognizing mental health as an issue and while we have things like Bell Let’s Talk Day, there’s a lot more work that needs to be done. Access to mental health supports is typically offered by certain companies/ agencies who provide insurance to their full-time employees. What about the employees who are part-time or on contract? What about the people whose companies cannot afford to offer insurance and they need to still work on their mental health, where do they go? Not everyone is fortunate to be able to pay out of pocket, as access to mental health care is expensive. While we are recognizing it as a legitimate health issue, why are we not treating it as one? Why have we commodified mental health?

[Mica]

Thank you Alexandra and all for sharing your thoughts! I am in agreement with a lot of the discussion. Mental wellness/distress creates another intersection of privilege/marginalization through (as you folks have kindly mentioned) employment, housing, etc. There are also specific experiences of sanism that folks experience, from microaggressions to institutionalization to physical violence. It also depends on what the person identifies with- some folks might say their mental wellness/distress is not intrinsic to their identity, while others may say it is (read about Mad Studies if you’re interested!). As with all oppressions, sanism intersects to create overlapping oppressions, and the modules have also done a very thorough job of explaining poorer mental health in Black communities due to racism.

[Eugenia]

I think that mental health itself is not a privilege as much as the access to it. The privilege is reflected into the tool, services and strategies that allow us to nurture our mental health. Some individuals are more resilient than others. However, even the most resilient individual needs to be nurtured in ones own resilience. Because of discrimination and racism, the Black population very often doesnt received the same attention as the White population when we deal with the access to mental health, either we talk about the education or the clinical settings. I believe that one of the steps professionals in these sectors (clinical and education) need to take is being aware of this issue and starting to provide a different service that is more aligned with the values related to the Anti-Oppressive Practice.

[Sarah Durand –]

I feel that mental health can be seen as a privilege when we consider the barriers black individuals face in our society. They are constantly having to be on high alert unlike those of us who are white. This constant state of alert leads to mental health issues due to the connections built in the brain. Not to mention the impact of generational trauma on mental health. If all of that energy did not have to be focused on protection and instead blacks were treated equal many of these mental health issues would not develop. Also getting support for their struggles is made increasingly difficult by systemic racism in the our health system.

Mental health is something we all work on but those of us with privilege have the community support, time, money and resource access to do so.

[Karen]

If I consider mental health as a privilege then I’m associating that with being mentally well (mental wellness), having the ability to think, feel, act in ways that positively impact you physically, socially and emotionally. According to the definition provided in module 4.1 “privilege is a ‘systematically conferred advantages individuals enjoy by virtue of their membership in dominant groups with access to resources and institutional power that are beyond the common advantages of marginalized citizens”. So then, a mentally well person is ‘normal’ having the advantage of not being stigmatized, penalized, surveilled, criminalized and feared, but rather worthy of respect, care, protection, freedom, advocacy etc. Mental wellness leads to mobility and access to resources reserved for members in the normative or dominant group.

[Jordan]

Love this explanation! I agree that mental health is a privilege in that those who are deemed “mentally well” do not face the barriers to employment, housing, safety, healthcare etc. that individuals labeled “mentally ill” experience due to ableism and sanism.

[Cyril]

Thanks Alexandra,

I had to return to the lecture (timestamp 21:41) before sharing my opinion.

I believe that “Mental Health” as used in this context is not prescribing any particular “identity” but bringing up a complex continuum that is impacted by social location and labelling.

From my understanding, this is not to suggest that these labels are valid/distinctive, but to problematize how people may be labelled “well” and “unwell” and how these projected/assumed identities may impact someone’s life experiences. So it may be a shifting “identify” of sorts, but I would agree that context is important to consider (and perhaps it juxtaposes with some of the other identities listed which are perhaps far more socially segmented).

If someone is publicly labelled with a mental health “condition” (without getting into medical models) it may impact the way they are treated – in my opinion, this is what the speaker is alluding to. What I like about your question is that it steps beyond this deduction and invites us to reflect on the relative nature of these social constructs – which all carry great social consequence.

There is a level of care (and courage) needed when naming and identifying social labels and stigma. I don’t have a conclusive answer here, but I appreciate the dynamic conversations for personal reflection that will hopefully bolster social justice.

[YouthREX- Kamau]

Thank you for posing this question!

I believe mental wellness can be seen as a privilege for some because of some of the things you outlined. Mental wellness is something that needs to be actively worked on, and if someone isn’t able to work on it because of their life circumstances then the ability to work on one’s mental health can be seen as a privilege.

[Alexandra]

Hi Kamau,

Thank you for your reply. So wouldn’t it then be a result of other areas of privilege and not a category of privilege on its own?

[YouthREX- Kamau]

Hi Alexandra,

I would say it could be seen as a result of other areas of privilege, as long as it is still acknowledged that those said areas will have definite impact on one’s mental wellness.