19/09/2019

University of Toronto Grad Minds

Executive Meeting Minutes
The Grad Room
19 September 2019


Attendees:
Jeffrey Lynham Co-Chair
Aleksandra Uzelac Co-Chair
Erin Remai Co-event Team Lead
Samantha Chang Co-event Team Lead
Alanna Bateman Marketing and Social Media Manager
Helen Jin Communications Coordinator
Thomas Murphy Treasurer
Milena Braticevic Member

Regrets:


Actionables from the Meeting:
- Helen to circulate meeting minutes via Slack
- Jeffrey to contact Sophie regarding how Grad Minds membership information should be
reported to UTGSU
- Aleks to finalize Grad Minds meeting schedule and locations by the end of the week
- Thomas to research printing and event grants
- Jeffrey to relay ideas brought up in this meeting to the Elemental team
- Thomas to determine feasibility of subscription fee for Elemental
- Erin and Samantha to compile a list of departments to contact for the yoga series
- Samantha to contact Milenia to begin planning the non-duality workshop on October
10th
- Aleks and Jeffrey to determine possibility of Faculty of Engineering collaboration
- Aleks and Jeffrey to compile the list of events determined today for the Legislative
Programme
- Any interested Executive to look through the list of candidates for the Mental Health
Policy Advisor position and let Jeffrey know their preferences


1. Meeting Comes to Order at 5:07 pm:

a. Introductions
- Jeffrey introduced all members present

b. Consent Agenda
- Motion to hold weekly yoga sessions on Wednesdays from 11am-12pm at Robarts
Library Reflection Room carries by unanimous vote

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- Motion to hold the annual Grad Minds conference on April 9th from 3:30-10pm carries by
unanimous vote

c. Adoption of Meeting Agenda
- No new items were added to the agenda
- Motion to approve the meeting agenda carries by unanimous vote

d. Approval of Minutes
- Motion to approve the previous meeting minutes carries by unanimous vote
- Helen to send around minutes via Slack after each meeting

2. Amendments to Grad Minds Meeting Structure:

a. Review Standing Committees and Caucuses Bylaw and Policy Amendments, and UTGSU
Policy G4.9 Grad Minds Committee
- Grad Minds mandate is to facilitate campus wide events in service of student mental
health
- Any decision involving how Grad Minds spends student dollars must be made via a vote
at an open meeting in which at least two members, apart from the chairs, are present
o All spending must have preapproval and any overspending must be put to a
second vote
- Grad Minds needs to report membership to the UTGSU General Council
o Jeffrey will contact Sophie to determine how that should be reported
- Any member who attends two or more open meetings will have voting power
- Grad Minds must be open to anybody who is a member of UTGSU – pays union fees
- Grad Minds needs to submit monthly reports to UTGSU as an account of our activities
- Grad Minds must submit annual reports (“Legislative Programme”) to UTGSU detailing
how the committee’s allocated budget will be spent
- Open meetings will be advertised on the UTGSU digest, via email, through the website, on
social media, and any other communication outlet available to reach the widest possible
audience

3. Amendments to Grad Minds Meeting Schedule:

a. Review Proposed Date Changes
- Will no longer hold Executive-only meetings, since no financial decision can be made
there
- All previously planned Executive meeting will now be converted to open meetings, where
possible
- Meetings will continue to be every two weeks
- Aleks will make a shared calendar to communicate dates and locations based on room
booking availabilities
o Will be done by the end of the week
- Executives should try not to miss two meetings in a row
o If any Executive will miss a meeting, they need to let everyone know and
send any updates they wish to report to another member

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- All members are welcome to contribute ideas and add items to the meeting agendas
- Next meeting will be Wednesday October 2nd, 5-6pm at the Grad Room
o The dates will be put on the website immediately
o The agenda will be circulated a week in advance
- Will publish an non-editable Google Doc of the meeting agenda so members who are
interested in any item will know to come
o Will have advertisements refer to the website, which will have a separate
page for links to meeting agendas

b. Motion to Accept New Schedule
- Motion to accept new schedule carries by unanimous vote

4. Financial Business:

a. Allocation of Funds
- The exact budget for the year should be announced next week – will share at the next
open meeting
o Amount should be the same as two years ago – roughly $4,000
o Mental Health is still a mandatory fee under the Student Choice Initiative, so
should budget should not be decreased that much
- Four main categories of spending: Yoga, Events, Elemental, Annual Conference
- Last year, Elemental was ~61% of the total budget, which may be too much
o Printed a lot of physical copies last year, which was expensive – will not print
so much this year
o Most copies last year were given away at their launch party – no established
distribution channels
o Printed copies may be more impactful than digital ones
o Possibility of charging a subscription fee? – Thomas to determine if that’s
feasible
o Can put a digital version on UTGSU Libraries Open Access so that it gets listed
in search results
o Could perhaps take orders prior to printing to reduce waste
o Could reduce costs by organizing the magazine so that not all pages require
colour printing
o Can leave the magazine at Health and Wellness and other waiting rooms
where they are more accessible
o Content is not graduate student specific – can try to reach a wider audience
in the community
o Can partner with Health and Wellness – they are always looking for different
resources
o Jeffrey to raise these ideas and questions at the Elemental meeting
o Thomas to look into printing grants
o Elemental has a broader impact that will outlast the current Grad Minds
committee, so spending a large proportion of the budget will be justified
- Lindsay, the yoga instructor, is asking for a raise on her classes
o She’s currently getting $30/week

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o Can potentially raise it $35/week

- Most events won’t cost much – can lump conference and event budgets together and
adjust plans based on available budget left

b. Motion to Approve Allocation of Funds
- Motion to allocate 50% of funds to Elemental carries by unanimous vote
- Motion to allocate 25% of funds to the yoga series carries by unanimous vote
- Motion to raise spending on the yoga instructor to $35/week carries by unanimous vote
o New payments will begin this month (September)
- Motion to allocate 25% of funds to the annual conference and other events combined
carries by unanimous vote

5. Unfinished Business:

a. Workshop Ideas
- Lindsay’s ideas for workshops: Self compassion, mindfulness in daily life, anxiety
o We already have an anxiety workshop
o Self compassion is an excellent idea
o Format: 15 mins introduction of the topic, 15 mins guided practice, 15 mins
partner sharing, 15 mins group discussion
o Can try one out one session to see interest and turnout before deciding on
the others
o Would need to make sure the one session is advertised well
o Can have people RSVP on something more involved than Facebook – eg.
Eventbrite or email
o Will schedule self compassion workshop for Thursday November 21st – will
leave enough time to advertise, and make an Eventbrite
o Will cost $120 per hour, but will be a sliding scale so will try to bargain for
$100
o Grad Room is booked – 5:30-6:45pm; a bigger room might be better, but
none available for this date
o Option to live stream the event to reach a wider audience?
§ Introduction likely can be, but shouldn’t for the discussion parts due
to confidentiality
§ Will ask Lindsay
§ Recording will be a resource for the future as well, can put up on the
website
§ If filming isn’t possible, can make it mandatory for Lindsay to prepare
and send us some slides about the topic
- Idea to help finance events: Grad Minds launch pilot programs/workshops/events, if
successful, go to departments/other institutions for investments/partnerships
o Bring the positive testimonials to help make the case
o Grad Minds has a line of communication with the UofT administration via
Sophie, our UTGSU liaison
- Idea for a pay what you can model?

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o Grad Minds is already using student dollars, so asking students to pay more
for events would be “double-dipping”
o Grad Minds also not allowed to accept donations
- Thomas to look into grants to help with financing
- Yoga sessions changed dates this year – need to get the attendance information from
Lindsay to see if this change has impacted attendance
o Can keep the schedule the same for the rest of this year, but change dates in
January as needed
o Can reach out to the community to see if anyone is a licensed yoga instructor
and willing to donate their time
o One session per week is not a habit – should have more sessions to help build
the routine
o Lindsay is not contracted
o Can try to increase attendance by rounds of targeted marketing throughout
the year (ie. for one month, advertisements are focused on Faculty of
Engineering, the next month, on Faculty of Medicine)
o Erin and Samantha will compile a department contact list
o Could incentivize attendance with a sign in sheet or punch card – if you come
more than X times, you get a prize at the conference
- One of the graduate residences is partnering with Grad Minds to put on a yoga session on
Saturday October 21st, 2-3pm
o Will be $80 total, but the residence will cover $30
o Many students from the residence will be attending
o Can send Lindsay a blurb about Grad Minds and promotional material to
advertise during the event
- Anxiety and Depression workshop scheduled for October 23rd
o Room is booked
- Have a room booked Oct 10th, but nothing scheduled yet
o Could have Jacalyn host her workshop on how to start a mental health
committee in your department
o Would like to give people who just joined UofT more time to acclimate before
attending the workshop – schedule it for November 7th instead
o Milena willing to host a workshop on non-duality on October 10th
o Would prefer to have a room larger than the Grad Room – will look into
space availabilities
o Will need to advertise a lot
o Samantha will get Milenia’s information to begin planning
o Will set up an Eventbrite for the event
- Will leave December flexible, event-wise, due to exams
o Can combine a meeting with an event
o Can have a semester recap session
o Holiday theme
o Gather feedback for next semester
o Already have a room booked for December 4th
- Once the dates for all the events are confirmed, will print the flyers and distribute them
through campus mail

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- Collaboration with Faculty of Engineering can be a fifth event

o Jeffrey and Aleks to ask Karthik tomorrow

b. Motion to Approve Event schedule
- Motion to approve the non-duality workshop on October 10th carries by unanimous vote
- Motion to approve yoga session on October 21st carries by unanimous vote
- Motion to approve the depression and anxiety workshop on October 23rd carries by
unanimous vote
- Motion to approve the department-specific mental health committee workshop on
November 7th carries by unanimous vote
- Motion to approve the self compassion workshop on November 21st carries by
unanimous vote
- Motion to approve a holiday-themed semester recap event on December 4th carries by
unanimous vote

6. Mental Health Resource Project:

a. Mental Health Policy Advisor
- 5-6 people have applied for the position
- Any Executive wanting to help select candidates can look through the applications in the
Grad Minds email and let Jeffrey know their opinions

7. Community Outreach Project:

a. Community Liaison
- Position created in service of Grad Mind’s collaboration mandate
- Grad Minds should communicate more with the faculty of Uoft
- Idea to form an advisory committee across faculty that Grad Minds hand-picks as a
resource to offer guidance on events and other major decisions
- Motion to appoint Karthik as the Community Liaison carries by unanimous vote

8. Legislative Programme/Monthly Reports for Executive Council:

a. Summary of Planned Events
- Legislative Programme due October 29th
- Aleks and Jeff will summarize all the events decided upon today for the report and send
it out to everyone who attends the next meeting
o Only event left tentative is the collaboration with Faculty of Engineering –
will have a finalized list by tomorrow

9. Any Other Business:


10. Meeting Adjourns at 6:19 pm

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Helen Jin
Communications Coordinator