#45 - Volunteer for a Mental Health Non-Profit

Starting from the application process of my doctoral program, I have been drawn to exploring mental health on campuses.  I grew up with parents who worked as mental health professionals, which likely inspired this interest in the first place.  I minored in psychology in undergrad but decided not to pursue a career in mental health.  However, this interest has stayed with me and each year I find myself more affected by the stories and experiences of others.

Since the shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007, I have been troubled by the trend of wishing to rid universities of potentially threatening students.  I worry that in focusing on identifying and removing students others find threatening, we will increase the stigma of mental illness so much that individuals who are not and will not be prone to violence towards others will be even more reluctant to seek help in fear of losing their academic lives and community.  I also worry about what will happen to the individuals who are removed from campuses and what kinds of follow up processes exist to prevent violence in another realm.

In 2012, the Dean of Students at my old university took his life weeks after learning his position would be eliminated.  Losing Mike was already overwhelming for many in our community to handle, but even more distressing for some was the administrative response.  I learned how important it is to care for everyone affected by mental illness, whether it is an individual directly, those who surround that individual indirectly, or an organization must respond after a crisis.

Less than a week later, I lost my cousin after he battled bipolar disorder for many years.  I had always known that phone call might likely come some day.  Brandon had attempted suicide several times.  But Brandon was such a charismatic, curious, thoughtful, hard-working person when he was well that I held onto the hope that he would defeat his demons and find peace in life instead of death.  

These personal and national incidents have kept me involved in examining mental health in communities and in caring for my loved ones.

This past year, after studying it and repeatedly articulating how important attention to mental health is, I felt disconnected between the research and academic work I have been doing and actual practice.  I decided to add this to the list so I could actually be contributing to improving mental health in some realm, somewhere.

Very sadly, the opportunity to connect concerns about mental health to my current campus of the University of San Diego presented itself four times already in 2013.  Our community has lost 4 undergraduate students to suicide since January of this year.  I have heard a rumor that we lost a part-time staff member as well, but I have not confirmed that.  Three of those deaths happened at the same time I was working on a literature review of the stigma of mental illness on campuses.  One happened very close to a subcommunity of which I am a part: Campus Recreation lost one of our student employees.  

While I did not know any of the students personally, I felt an emotional blow each time I heard the news.  I was also struck, sometimes paralyzed, at the way people talked about this tragic phenomenon we were experiencing and the way the community was inadvertently increasing the stigma of mental illness and seeking help during efforts to respond to these deaths.  I was incredibly aware, saddened, and tense about the lack of knowledge and dangerous assumptions that were being made at all levels in the response.

I finally found myself inclined to send an e-mail to the Vice President of Student Affairs office.  I did my best to simply offer the passion and commitment I have to this topic in connecting it to the practices and responses happening on campus currently.  I wanted to contribute to the community while also furthering my own knowledge and study of this topic.

It took awhile to get a response but I finally received an e-mail from Dr. Moises Baron in the Counseling Center.  He asked for a meeting with me.  

In the meeting, we discussed my studies.  He offered some research and ideas to help me study, and, more importantly than that, asked if I would join a newly formed Suicide Prevention Working Group.  While I feel strongly that campuses should be working towards creating caring communities, not just preventing suicide, this experience would be invaluable.  I would be able to contribute in practice and research while my campus community is recovering and responding to tragic events.

I have now attended two meetings with a third in the near future.  I have volunteered to assist in planning programming, including connecting our work to roles I already hold, such as potentially involving Campus Recreation in wellness and event planning.  I also hope that I can further my research on stigma and to think about ways we should be applying stigma-decreasing practices so that our community can better recognize distressing thoughts and behaviors and to seek help.

I am excited about this opportunity and look forward to staying involved as long as possible.