NC State is participating this week in the 25th annual National Mental Health Awareness week, put on by NC State’s chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). 

NAMI has been working on a national scale during the first full week of October to bring more attention to mental health issues, which affect an estimated 43.8 million American adults, according to NAMI. The organization plans to accomplish this by focusing on various aspects of those issues and turning them into themes. 

This year’s theme is the “StigmaFree” initiative. The initiative will incorporate a social media campaign consisting of students pictured holding signs about mental health awareness. At an information table in the Brickyard, students can learn more about mental health issues, play “stomp out the stigma,” a variation of Twister, and participate in other activities in the name of mental health awareness.

Being “stigma free,” according to NAMI’s website, means learning about and educating others on mental illness, connecting with people to see each other as individuals and not just as a diagnosis and most importantly, taking action on mental health issues and taking the StigmaFree pledge. 

The Counseling Center’s new mental health ambassadors are working with the NC State NAMI chapter to operate an information table located in the Brickyard to pass out green awareness ribbons and help inform students about the topic of mental health through today.

“One thing students seemed to be particularly confused about is the specifics of what the stigma is and how it affects mental health issues,” said Joshua Gerrans, one of the information table operators and a junior studying psychology. 

A stigma is described as a mark of disgrace associated with a particular person, quality or circumstance. With regard to mental illness, stigmas are conceived as a kind of shame associated with an individual’s affliction with a mental illness. The goal of this week is to combat that kind of thinking and promote a safer environment for people suffering from mental illness to come forward and seek help. 

After the recent student death at NC State, there has been a surge of support on campus for those facing mental health issues.

“It has spurred a lot more traffic at the Counseling Center and greater community awareness,” said Megan McDowell, a mental health ambassador for the Counseling Center and a senior studying psychology. “It’s good that more people on campus are reaching out.”  

Such surges of support can be common in the wake of tragic campus events like the ones experienced at NC State and across the country in Oregon but can ultimately lack the impact necessary to bring about effective change, according to Avi Aggarwal, president of NC State’s NAMI chapter and a senior studying chemical engineering

“I think that if the conversation is not continued then we won’t be able to break the barriers that need to be broken,” Aggarwal said. “I’m hoping the conversations continue and that we can leverage the momentum we have right now to create more effective changes on campus, such as peer counseling groups.” 

More concrete initiatives focused on educating students is a big priority for Aggarwal, who has recently been pushing a program called “the Two-Minute Talks” in which students would be trained to give two-minute presentations about mental health in various classrooms around campus. This program would be part of an effort to consistently bring mental health conversations to the forefront of student life.  

Consistent attention is important because even with the supporting community that is NC State, the NAMI information table in the Brickyard sat slightly neglected by the students who walked past. 

“I wish there were more people that would come and ask questions but most only seem to come for the candy,” Gerrans said.