If you're feeling overwhelmed by academia, you're not alone. Mental health affects us all, and this week, we'll be looking at some initiatives designed to support and enhance the wellbeing of the community.

Megan Kirk Chang (PhD candidate, School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences in the Faculty of Health) explores how yoga can help trauma survivors struggling with PTSD. She is currently leading an eight-week online research study that explores the effectiveness of mindfulness-based approaches. To take part in her clinical trial, contact [email protected].

Plus: Mira Dineen (manager of Graduate Wellness Services) discusses York's mental health philosophy, and the unique challenges facing grad students.

Biology prof Dawn Bazely has been with York University for almost 30 years, and as she has evolved, so has her work. In the topics she studies (including climate change and human security) and the causes she champions (including Women in STEM), she works at the intersection of science, policy, and politics. In this episode, she discusses her career, her experience as a woman in science, the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration... and a strange fungus that is killing sheep!

The relationship between Canada's Indigenous communities and the education sector has been historically fraught. On this episode we'll look at some York initiatives that seek a better path forward.

First: we pay a visit to the Centre for Aboriginal Student Services at York. Ally Stoett, Aboriginal Recruitment Officer, talks about the Centre, its services, and its spiritual role at the university.

Then (9:25), we explore the Manitoulin Island Summer Historical Institute, a unique seven-day learning experience that fosters communication between university students and Anishinaabe elders. York history professor Carolyn Podruchny discusses the annual event in Luke Huron, and discusses how to create a reciprocal educational project that seeks to move beyond colonialism.

On this episode, we’ll be looking ahead to CRAM, a one-night festival of ideas that is bringing Toronto’s four main universities together (imagine an all-night art festival, but for research). We look at two of the night's most unique presentations.

Patrick Alcedo is a scholar, dancer, filmmaker, and associate professor in York’s Department of Dance. His presentation “The Global Filipino: A Moving Experience,” brings together his many interests. Combining documentary film, lecture, and live Philippine folk dances, the presentation explores the Filipino diaspora in Canada.

PLUS: Wouldn’t it be nice to study Edward Snowden’s leaked documents without the government knowing? Well, good news – there’s a technology for that. The Snowden Archive-in-a-Box in an offline archive of all of the publicly available files that Snowden leaked. Libraries and other institutions can use this technology to disseminate sensitive material without incorporating it into their actual collections. Evan Light is an assistant professor of Communications at Glendon College, and shows how it works.

CRAM takes place April 5. For more information, go to https://cramtoronto.com/.

In the years following the Second World War, Toronto experienced a construction boom. In large part, the city's new skyscrapers and suburbs were built by immigrants from the Polish, Italian, Portuguese, and other diasporas.

How did these disparate communities interact? What safety conditions did these workers face? How did they organise?

Gilberto Fernandes (a postdoctoral Fellow at the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies and the York University History Department) is project manager, designer, curator, and director of "City Builders: A History of Immigrant Construction Workers in Post-war Toronto." The ambitious multimedia project seeks to record the memories of the immigrants who built the city. The project can be found at: https://toronto-city-builders.org/

See the City Builders exhibition at Columbus Centre Atrium (901 Lawrence Ave W, North York) until March 31: http://www.myseumoftoronto.com/programming/city-builders/

PHOTO: Construction worker walking on steel beam high in the sky with the city below him. 1963. York University Libraries, Clara Thomas Archives, Toronto Telegram fonds, ASC52798.

Welcome to Grad Life, the official podcast of York University's Faculty of Graduate Studies. On the first episode, we talk to Kamau Peterson, Canadian Football League veteran and offensive coordinator of the York Lions. He discusses transitioning from player to coach, and how his days on the field inform his coaching.

PLUS: What makes something invisible or visible? What is the relationship between visibility and what is considered "real"? York's Science and Technology Studies Department hosts the Fifth Annual Binocular Graduate Conference with a unique theme: "(In)visibilities." We talk to co-organizer Angela Cope about the implications of "visibility" on academia.