STI's, Stigma, and our Mental Health
with Lindy Schaffrick, Rehma Khan and Jonah Elke from SIHA
Tuesday, March 1, 2022, 12:00 - 12:50 pm, Zoom
This year, we have all experienced the ups and downs of contracting a worldwide spread virus, Covid. It took the world awhile to get over the stigma associated with this, but what about the other ones that have been around since we all were born? STI's have so much stigma around them, however like Covid, none of us are completely above it. The aim of this presentation is to educate further on common STI's with the goal of creating more openness on these topics. Lindy Schaffrick, Rehma Khan, and Jonah Elke -- all representatives from the Student's Invested in Health Association (SIHA)--will discuss some common STI's and the stigma around them. They will create a comfortable space where information can be shared and a discussion held about the impact that STI's can have on us not only physically but psychologically.
Lindy Schaffrick recently graduated with a MSc in Surgery from the University of Alberta. During her studies she did research in burn patients and wound healing. Her goal is to continue learning about health and its impacts on society and how to improve it.
Rehma Khan is a third year BSc psychology (honors) student at the University of Alberta. She is passionate about gender equality, health equity, and social justice. Throughout her undergraduate degree, she noticed the gaps and lack of accessibility in Canada's healthcare system and hopes to work towards improving the health outcomes of vulnerable populations. She is a local project manager with SIHA. This year SIHA's outreach team's focus is to create a project aimed at increasing STI and HIV awareness and accessibility to resources through virtual methods. The outreach team is currently conducting research on statistics, epidemiology, available online resources in order to create an easily accessible virtual toolkit for the public.
Jonah Elke is the Prevention and Education Lead at HIV Edmonton. Originally from Yellowknife, Jonah moved to Treaty Six in 2008 to pursue a Bachelor's of Science in Neuroscience and a Master's of Science in Psychology from the University of Alberta. Jonah has always had a passion for sexual health, science, and storytelling, and is delighted to have the opportunity to explore these passions in community.