2008 Woodie Awards
View print edition front page as a PDF
News
Week aimed to educate about mental health awareness
By Lauren Gardner on 10/3/05
Active Minds, the AU counseling center and Pi Kappa Alpha are collaborating to educate the public about mental illness as part of the national Mental Illness Awareness Week this week.
Mental Illness Awareness Week is an annual, national observance that was started by a 1990 Presidential proclamation to focus attention on the high incidence of mental illness in America, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Web site.
Pi Kappa Alpha's philanthropy is mental health awareness because in August 2004, an alumnus of the fraternity and the university committed suicide, said Stephen Dougherty, a junior in the School of International Service and a member of Pi Kappa Alpha.
The fraternity hopes "to show people that if they have a problem... getting help is ok," Dougherty said.
The fraternity and Active Minds will be raffling off a gift certificate to eFollet.
A chapter of Active Minds was started at AU last February by Alexis Chappell, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. The group's goal is to raise awareness about mental illness on college campuses.
Wanda Collins, the new acting director of the counseling center, said the center advertises its services directly to students through the Today@AU e-newsletter, posters in the residence halls and other on-campus buildings and fliers in orientation packets for incoming freshmen.
"We want to make sure that both students and members of the community who are in daily contact with students know of our services and can refer students here," she said in an e-mail.
The top three concerns of students seeking help at the center last year were emotional and mental health, relationship and identity concerns and academic problems, she said. A total of 837 students were seen at the center last year.
More students need to know that the counseling center is free, confidential and open to all students, including Washington Semester and graduate students, Chappell said.
Mental Illness Awareness Week is an annual, national observance that was started by a 1990 Presidential proclamation to focus attention on the high incidence of mental illness in America, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Web site.
Pi Kappa Alpha's philanthropy is mental health awareness because in August 2004, an alumnus of the fraternity and the university committed suicide, said Stephen Dougherty, a junior in the School of International Service and a member of Pi Kappa Alpha.
The fraternity hopes "to show people that if they have a problem... getting help is ok," Dougherty said.
The fraternity and Active Minds will be raffling off a gift certificate to eFollet.
A chapter of Active Minds was started at AU last February by Alexis Chappell, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. The group's goal is to raise awareness about mental illness on college campuses.
Wanda Collins, the new acting director of the counseling center, said the center advertises its services directly to students through the Today@AU e-newsletter, posters in the residence halls and other on-campus buildings and fliers in orientation packets for incoming freshmen.
"We want to make sure that both students and members of the community who are in daily contact with students know of our services and can refer students here," she said in an e-mail.
The top three concerns of students seeking help at the center last year were emotional and mental health, relationship and identity concerns and academic problems, she said. A total of 837 students were seen at the center last year.
More students need to know that the counseling center is free, confidential and open to all students, including Washington Semester and graduate students, Chappell said.