The Mental Health and Wellness Virtual Community (MHW-VC) began as a small group of faculty that grew organically. In 2022, we began advertising for the community monthly meets. The community quickly grew, and it is now a diverse group of over 120 faculty, staff, students, and industry employees from over 70 organizations in multiple countries. We meet virtually most months to discuss topics around mental health and wellness (MHW) in engineering academia.

Each month, a different member of the community will facilitate discussion and bring a new topic to the group. The facilitator will give some context for the month’s topic for the first 10-15 minutes of the meeting, followed by breakout discussions where individual members will share their experiences. The group joins together for a full-group discussion in the last 10-20 minutes of the 50-55 minute monthly meet-up.

Previous topics have included mid-semester overwhelm, inclusive syllabus development, authenticity, and professional shame. Current members include faculty, staff, graduate students, postdocs, DEI leaders, and professionals from industry. All are welcome.

The community has a website, shared resources, Slack channel, and conducts regular community surveys for feedback. Joining our mailing list is a great way to learn about next month’s meeting!

In the future: We plan to continue organizing these meet-ups, with hopes for expanded engagement opportunities (under construction) in the future!

History: The MHW-VC started in 2019 as a small group of faculty that slowly expanded. These faculty included Karin Jensen, Sarah Wilson, Andrew Danowitz, and Julianna Gesun. In 2022, Jeanne Sanders joined to support the group expansion.