Alyx Volzer

Addressing the social determinants of mental health with urban planning and community development

[Neurodivergent Insights @NeuroD_Insights]

Continuing my series on #AutismAcceptance in action today looking at practices that therapists can incorporate to make the therapy office more Autistic friendly.

https://t.co/3XsOKY1IVS

[Callum Stephen (He/Him) @AutisticCallum_]

Autistic people are often criticised for “reading too much into things” and “assuming” the worst, but usually what we deduce is highly accurate, thanks to our pattern-spotting and dot-connecting abilities. I think the real issue is we typically unearth truths others want hidden.

[Global Witness @Global_Witness]

⚫️Seven years ago on this day, the #ParisAgreement on climate change was adopted.

Since then (and until December 2021) over 1000 land & #EnvironmentalDefenders from around the world have been murdered, our global data shows.

Here are their names.

[Alyx Volzer @AlyxVolzer]

https://t.co/OW9dCJT805
omg I love this. this, this. this! Its a bait and switch the way they reel ppl in as students, then create a Goffman Total Institution environment of humiliating and demoralizing conditions where we lose agency of our lives.

[Alyx Volzer @AlyxVolzer]

@autisticbutter1 @TicsnTatts Thank you!

[Alyx Volzer @AlyxVolzer]

meanwhile, my off campus job: i am self employed & have employees. had been for nearly a decade before i started at UC. & they had the audacity to imply I needed 2 close my business for the 20hrs I was working 4 them b/c I was fraudulently committed to UC as my "primary employer"

[Alyx Volzer @AlyxVolzer]

as i'm mentally preparing myself for the next calendar year and thinking over my yearly finances with taxes... this is what is going thru my head if we have a yes vote.

[Alyx Volzer @AlyxVolzer]

Summer 2024: Now 4yrs of student debt, a summer ahead with off campus work when i'm supposed to be prepping for my QEs, and still nothing to show for it.... no publications (too busy!), no master's degree, nothing. gotta wait until fall quarter to get that raise we negotiated.

[Alyx Volzer @AlyxVolzer]

@collthinking420 (sorry, i don't have the credit attribution)
[alt text: Character Lucille Bluth in the TV show Arrested Development labeled as UC Admin saying "I mean, it's a studio apartment Michael. What could it cost, $10?]

[Alyx Volzer @AlyxVolzer]

@collthinking420 while harder to quantify it should be noted that common coping mechanisms 4housing cost increases is downsizing (eg from 1bdrm apt to renting a rm in a house) or increasing the # of occupants. UC caseworkers suggest that over the past decades fewer grad students rent 1bdrm apts

[Alyx Volzer @AlyxVolzer]

@christina_hbr @collthinking420 @saulivanx you can triangulate if this makes sense for your budget by calculating your largest other expenses- usually food, utilities/internet, transportation, and insurance/medical. these should fit easily into your remaining budget w/enough for personal items, clothing, entertainment etc

[Alyx Volzer @AlyxVolzer]

@christina_hbr @collthinking420 @saulivanx federal guidelines on shelter poverty/mo. living wage is 3.33x your monthly rent (which most prop managers enforce with 3x rental income to even qualify for signing a lease). so, example: if you rent a bdrm in a house for $900, a min living wage is $2997/mo.

[Alyx Volzer @AlyxVolzer]

@the_tweedy Feel free to reach out to me if you have questions... beyond my own personal experience I also work with people professionally as a massage therapist doing pre-op and remedial post-op work. its a major procedure with huge implications for your body.

[Alyx Volzer @AlyxVolzer]

@collthinking420 but of course, not all students have that privilege. student parents or disabled students often need their own 1bdrm apartments and sharing housing is unfeasible. so COLA helps stabilize the social determinants of health/mental health for all kinds of students/families

[Alyx Volzer @AlyxVolzer]

@christina_hbr @collthinking420 @saulivanx to my knowledge there isnt a dataset on grad students specifically but gen population crowding stats are part of the census data (ACS). Eg Yolo Co (UCD) has a vry distinctive trend on overcrowding in low income populations. w/other data there is vry interesting inferential stats

[Alyx Volzer @AlyxVolzer]

@collthinking420 but of course, not all students have that privilege. student parents or disabled students often need their own 1bdrm apartments and sharing housing is unfeasible. so COLA helps stabilize the social determinants of health/mental health for all kinds of students/families

[Alyx Volzer @AlyxVolzer]

@collthinking420 the implications of this is students tightening their financial belts as the last 50 years have seen stagnant wages and shrinking benefits packages. so, early strike polling on rental burden actually underestimates it further b/c students are using these coping mechanisms.