By Arden Berry | Staff Writer
Balloons popped, coins dropped and students stopped as the Counseling Center and a variety of other organizations created campus connections for Mental Health Awareness Day.
From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, the representatives from each organization gathered under tents on Fountain Mall with several activities prepared for passing students.
Dr. Yunjin Lee, coordinator of outreach services for the Counseling Center, oversaw the event. She said the event’s theme was “Be Kind to Your Neighbor.”
“We try to make our community care for each other and feel connected, so they’re not going to feel alone,” Lee said. “And also reduce the stigma around mental health. They’ve got to be okay to talk about [it] and get resources.”
Lee said the Counseling Center set up a “neighbor mic” for students to step up to and share messages about kindness and connections with neighbors. They also provided the tools to make bag charms.
“There is a ‘mental health matters’ message on the key chain, and then they can connect different charms,” Lee said. “They can carry those messages with them.”
The Counseling Center also reached out to its neighbors for help at Mental Health Awareness Day. Athletics Mental Health Services, Campus Recreation, Active Minds, the Office of Sustainability, Student Health Advisory Council, the Care Team, Beauchamp Addiction Recovery Center and the Well-Being Initiatives program all gathered to table.
Athletics Mental Health Services brought a game where students were to drop a coin into a large glass cup filled with water, angling for the coin to land in a smaller cup within the larger one. Director of Athletic Mental Health Services Don Aterburn said the game was a representation of life and mental health.
“You can learn from experience, good and bad,” Aterburn said. “And so now that you’ve got it in the glass, you know exactly where you’re holding it and how to put it in. So it’s just like life. You just try to learn from your good tries and your bad tries and how to adjust. That’s what we help people do.”
Organizations also gave out merch, stuffed animals and healthy foods. Other activities included a “Balloon-popping stigma activity,” large puzzle pieces for students to decorate and add to a puzzle, coloring and sticky notes with kind messages.
Austin senior Aramis Reyes is a peer health educator who represented Well-Being Initiatives at the event.
“Today we’re doing ‘give what you can, take what you need,’” Reyes said. “The idea is that people can leave nice messages for others, and then they can take a message that someone else has already left as a way to uplift others.”
Students needing the help of a neighbor can schedule an appointment with the Counseling Center through the Health Portal or use the resources from other organizations represented at Mental Health Awareness Day.
“Students are not alone,” Reyes said. “There are resources for them, and people do care.”
