A classically trained cellist and singer, Lumine Egan is pursuing a Music degree at McGill with a minor in Psychology. She’s also a fixture at the Student Wellness Hub, where she works as a Hub Peer Supporter, lending a non-judgmental ear, facilitating workshops, and assisting students in navigating physical and mental healthcare at McGill and beyond.
Lumine mostly works in the Healthy Living Annex – the area of the Student Wellness Hub dedicated to health promotion with activities that include animal therapy, the McGill Art Hive and a stress-busting Virtual Reality program.
“It’s a wonderful space,” says Lumine, who wants more students to come to the Annex. “We have beanbag chairs, light therapy, couches, the Shag Shop…and a little knitting corner.”
As part of the Sexual Health and Harm Reduction team, she shares information with students on safer sex and harm-reduction strategies. We spoke to Lumine about her role.
Q. What prompted you to become a Hub Peer Supporter?
I went to the Art Hive. I hadn’t known much about the Wellness Hub before then, but I made friends with Hub Peer Supporters who were there. They told me what they do, and it really aligned with what I want to do in life, which is to become a music therapist. Being able to recognize the power in peer support and how it can help so many students, that’s what drew me into the role.
Q. What kind of training did you undergo?
We were trained in active listening as well as mental health first aid to know what to do in situations when students might be in distress or sad. We get sensitivity training because we recognize that students come from different parts of the world with different experiences, different cultures. It’s good to be mindful and aware of where people are coming from.
Q. What have you learned from working with students?
It has taught me a lot of patience. I think coming into the role I had a lot of empathy, but listening to students’ experiences has elevated that. I’ve used the Hub services as well, and I’ve talked to my co-workers – we can peer support each other.
I realize it is an amazing part of what we offer at McGill, because it makes a huge difference in the university experience, especially as an undergrad. A lot of people are coming straight out of high school, and they’re scared or they’re in a completely new environment. It’s important to know that you have support, that you can just come talk a bit more casually rather than booking a counselling session, because it can be very daunting asking for help a lot of the time. But taking that first step and talking to somebody, that’s a great thing.
Q. What does your role entail?
The role of a Hub Peer Supporter is varied. We have ones who operate more on our clinic side – that’s on one side of the building. We sit in our greeter booth and welcome people who come into the clinic. We triage them and answer any questions about how to book an appointment or what resources we have to offer.
On the other side is the Healthy Living Annex. I sit in that space more. We do workshops. We do server training – our alcohol safety course that we give to people if they want to be able to serve alcohol on campus. That’s within the scope of harm reduction. We have a safer partying workshop that we offer to students. If people just want to talk about something going on in their lives, they can sit with us in that space, and we listen to them.
We have a little boutique called the Shag Shop. We sell products, but we’re also there to create an open dialogue around sexual wellness and menstrual wellness because for some people maybe they come from a place where it’s not really talked about and want to learn more. I wanted to join this sub-team of Sexual Health and Harm Reduction because that is such an important part of life, knowing about harm reduction and how to disseminate that information to everybody.
Q. What do you think of the value of students greeting other students as they come into the Student Wellness Hub?
There’s this connection that we have as soon as a student comes in where it’s like, OK, we are the same person, like we have the same level of power. That’s what’s great about being a peer supporter is that I have that connection with students.
Q. How do you channel students to supports they may need?
If it’s something that falls out of the scope of what we can do, we’re trained in how to direct students. We have ways of asking the students what kind of support they need like if it’s something that can only be answered by a doctor or with a counsellor.
If you are a person who identifies as two-spirit or part of the LGBTQ+ community, then we have counsellors who specialize in that. Or if you are a Black student, we also have local wellness advisors and counsellors who specialize in supporting Black students. That’s what I love about the Hub – that inclusivity aspect to our services.
Q. What are your favourite programs or activities at the Hub?
The Art Hive because it’s what got me my job. I do love the animal therapy program. I have so many stories over the almost two and a half years that I’ve been working there, where students come in and immediately you can see the relief on their face – they’re sitting down with a dog. I’ve had a few people start crying because especially during exam time and mid-terms, it’s a stressful period for students and being able to see the difference that it makes, it’s very rewarding.