On Oct. 21, St. Thomas University announced the arrival of a new campus mental health coordinator — Shane Clark.
Clark will be working at STU until next October.
Starting just two weeks ago, a hectic time for students with schoolwork ramping up, Clark has already been busy.
“I came right in around midterm time, so people are already high-stress. They were without a mental health coordinator for a while, so there was a backlog,” they said.
“Gotta be prepared to be thrown in the deep end. That’s the nature of the job.”
As a counsellor with specializations in 2SLGBTQ+ mental health, Clark’s journey with therapy comes from their social work background. However, their schooling experience was far from linear.
Clark started university as a theatre and art student in the late 90s. Although they switched out of theatre, Clark said their love for the art form lives on. They have watched some of STU’s productions, but most notably, they saw Phantom of the Opera at the former Pantages Theatre in Toronto during its last run.
“We got to go all around backstage [at Phantom of the Opera]. We got to climb the fly tower and see the big chandelier,” they said. “I adore theatre.”
After art school in Toronto, it wasn’t until over a decade later and after having a child, that they went back to university at the age of 33 to pursue social work at Dalhousie. At the same time, they also worked as an expressive arts facilitator with Recovery Arts Studio, which focuses on art as a recovery tool for people experiencing addiction.
For Clark, that’s when counselling became their passion. However, their experience in therapy also contributed to “the goal” of getting into the field.
“I have gotten a lot of therapy myself,” said Clark. “So I had a lot of lived experience and a lot of firsthand knowledge about how transformative it could be and how crappy it could be.”
From there, Clark went to the University of Waterloo in 2020 to complete a master’s of social work with a focus on 2SLGTBQ+ care. They are also trained with the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), meaning they can perform assessments and write recommendation letters for transgender folks seeking gender-affirming care.
Their interest in 2SLGBTQ+ mental health was shaped by both their own experience as a member of the community and also seeing a lack of services in New Brunswick specifically for queer people.
“There’s a huge gap in New Brunswick, not just with knowledgeable and chill therapists that kind of get it,” they said.
Clark said two big factors make it important to have specialized care for 2SLGBTQ+ people: building trust through shared culture and “the medical trauma and violence that people experience due to that identity.”
“We connect through shared culture and that helps folks get past that first barrier of, ‘Can I trust this person?’” they said. “There’s just a little bit more trust to begin with because we have a shared language.”
With a high population of queer students at STU, Clark is excited to bring their services to campus for students that are part of the 2SLGBTQ+ community and those that are not.
For students who are thinking about visiting counselling services but are hesitant, Clark said they try to keep the environment as “chill” as possible, especially for neurodivergent students.
“I’m in the neuro-spicy camp somewhere,” they said. “If you come to my office, it’s very well set up for people with ADHD and people who are on the autism spectrum usually find it pretty affirming and comfy.”
Aside from helping students, Clark is looking forward to a different working atmosphere. After running their private practice Rebel Heart Counselling for the last few years, they are itching to be amongst people again.
“It was just me and my office was in a basement and it was dark, quiet and nobody was around. I really missed the human interaction,” they said.
With both drop-in hours and scheduled appointments, there has been no lack of human interaction for Clark at STU.
During their time at the university, Clarke strives to make a difference amongst the school’s 2SLGBTQ+ community and they said they are excited to be part of the STU family.
“I am just really looking forward to making friends amongst my colleagues and peers.”
