My name is Crystal, and I’m a third year undergraduate student in the Psychology Honours program at McGill. For my research project, I am currently examining the relationship between cognitive reserve, executive functioning, and cortical thickness decline in menopausal women with Dr. Natasha Rajah at the Douglas Mental Health Institute. In terms of long-term career goals, I am personally interested in both Psychiatry and Health and Family Law.

One reason I love being in my major is that learning about the multifaceted scientific and theoretical ideas in Psychology has helped me understand mental health much better. I joined CMH in my U1 year because I wanted to enrich my understanding of mental healthcare beyond what can be learned about it from lectures. Because of my own personal interest in becoming a practitioner within the field, I believe it is highly important to develop a first-person understanding of treatments in addition to learning how to administer them.

To me, collaborative mental healthcare aims to develop a more holistic and inclusive understanding of mental health through open collaboration and discussion among people with diverse backgrounds in the subject. Hearing from people also pursuing careers in mental healthcare, who may have different goals and something unfamiliar to bring to the table, is truly valuable in that respect. This type of discussion can help build towards a better, less rigid understanding of mental healthcare, and has potential to improve the way it is practiced through a reassessment our current systems. This continuous discussion also allows us to be more empathetic towards others as well as ourselves, and highlights the importance of mental healthcare in all areas of life.