Grace Vaccaro, Staff Writer
How are you feeling today? At the beginning of each club meeting, NAMI President Lindsey Blankenship asks this question, inviting members to share the highs and lows of their day. This question sets the tone for a safe space for students to come together and share their thoughts and feelings on mental health.
NAMI stands for the National Alliance on Mental Illness. NAMI meets every Tuesday at 7:00 PM in Fitz 205. At each meeting, a different mental illness or wellness activity is covered and discussed. Conversations that highlight different experiences or perspectives are encouraged. Seniors who attend six meetings in the semester they graduate receive a cord to wear at graduation, symbolizing their alliance to mental health advocacy.
In recent years, awareness surrounding mental health has grown significantly. Around the early 2020s, with motivation from COVID-19 and social media, many people began to fight for the reduction of stigma around mental health. While SUNY Oneonta hasn’t always been perfect, over the last couple of years, the school has made leaps and bounds in its attention toward mental health. Recently, they have added more and delegated more funding for Mental Health programs. The Counseling Center has especially been expanded, now having peer mentor interns and holding events, such as “Coffee With the Counseling Center.”
While NAMI is part of a plethora of Mental Health events, Lindsey Blankenship shared that her favorite event is the Out of the Darkness Walk. This walk is for suicide prevention and involves the campus and community. This semester the walk will be held on April 25th at 10 AM in the IRC Quad. About 300-400 people come together, representing how far this event can reach on campus and in the community. NAMI believes that “suicide affects everybody, either directly or indirectly,” meaning that an event like this is so important.
At the event, there are resources for LGBTQ+ students and veterans, providing coping skills and resources for all. The MCAT, the mobile crisis assessment team in Oneonta, and the Otsego County Lifeline (988) are some of the resources that will attend the event, ensuring that those who need assistance know where to find them. Speeches are also made by people who have been affected by suicide or by people who have lost loved ones, families, or friends.
Other events happening to support mental health are the BeWellFest hosted by the counseling center in the spring. The counseling center is another resource on campus that provides short-term individual counseling, daily crisis appointments, group counseling, and referrals for open-ended counseling. The center is open Monday – Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
If Lindsey could tell the campus one final message, she wanted people to know that “it’s okay to feel what you feel.” You are not alone in how you feel, and there are resources available. SUNY Oneonta is “full of students, all with different paths and journeys, and everybody has their own struggle.” If you reach out and connect, you can make a world of difference to somebody.
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