CHEW fair promotes men’s mental health

The Masculinity Project, a semester-long effort to promote conversation about masculinity on college campuses, culminated with the Health and Wellness fair held on Tuesday in the Glass Pavilion.

Organized by the Center for Health Education and Wellness, the Office of Gender Equity and the Office of LGBTQ Life, the event featured both Hopkins groups and community organizations. Sophomore Osiris Mancera, who helped coordinate the event, talked about the fair’s mission.

“It’s pretty much just a conglomeration of different Hopkins organizations and also community organizations that are just getting together and talking to students about what they have to offer them. Focus is on masculinity within their offices and organizations,” Mancera said.

To attract visitors, participating organizations offered pens, candy and stickers along with informational pamphlets and flyers. In addition to handouts, representatives talked to students about the resources that their organizations offer and the role they play in male health and wellness on campus.

Chris Conway and Jeanna Stokes of the Counseling Center publicized the wide variety of free mental health services offered to all Hopkins students, including individual and group therapy, crisis intervention and support groups such as the LGBT+ student support group and the students of color discussion group.

The counselors voiced their desire to raise awareness about mental health issues pertaining to men on campus. They discussed the psychological stigma that prevents men from seeking mental health services and the counseling center’s role in reducing that.

“Men are less likely to seek out traditional kinds of mental health services... at the Counseling Center we see about 39 percent of our clients are men,” Conway said. “I think events like this encourage men to take an active role in their health care and know what their resources are.”

Among the community organizations represented was the LGBT Health Resource Center of Chase Brexton Health Care, a federally qualified health center serving Baltimore and the surrounding communities. Nate Sweeney and Matthew Malouf explained how the Center works to connect LGBT men with resources such as HIV testing, sexual health and mental health services.

“From a behavioral health perspective, obviously we treat men for whatever mental health conditions that they present with,” Malouf said. “We do a lot of trans care as well. There are a lot of trans guys and people who are gender-fluid or somewhere on that spectrum [who] might be using some of our services, whether they’re behavioral health services or meeting with our primary care providers for hormones. So we have a pretty broad definition of masculinity.”

Although Chase Brexton serves the entire Baltimore community, Malouf, a Hopkins alum, noted that their resources are available to Hopkins students.

“We work with college students from a lot of the universities around,” he said. “So anybody can use our services.”

Assistant Chaplain Asher Kolieboi of the Interfaith Center discussed the ways in which religion serves as a safe space and a means of empowerment.

“Religion can be a way for people to do good in the world, so I think this could be a wonderful vehicle for men and masculine people to think about how they build religious communities,” Kolieboi said.

He also emphasized the Center’s focus on service and the role of spirituality.

“Religion more and more is moving towards spirituality, so things like mindfulness, self-care,” Kolieboi said. “If you think about spiritual health, that’s a big part of what we do — helping in this area where men and masculine people on campus can access this.”

The student-run group Stressbusters also provided free five-to-seven minute back massages to relieve stress. Junior Stressbusters member Allie Zito said that it is important for men to take part in self-care.

“Even if you identify as male, you still need to love yourself and treat yourself and take care of yourself,” she said.

She also talked about the group’s Color-Me-Calm event, which promotes adult coloring books as a form of relaxation.

“[Color-Me-Calm] inspires you to sit down and take a little time for yourself, color and relax and not be thinking about school and exams and all of the stresses that are there,” she said.

Freshman Anthony Boutros enjoyed learning about the many different organizations represented at the fair.

“I wanted to learn about all the opportunities that are available for getting a healthier, safer life on campus,” Boutros said. “I met with people from LGBTQ life, gender equity... I think it helps raise awareness about all the offices that are dedicated to helping people be comfortable in their own identity, especially minority students.”