Active Minds at Buffalo State has been working for three semesters to increase awareness on mental health issues. Their latest endeavor was the BSeCret project.
“(Active Minds) aims to remove the stigma that surrounds mental health issues, and create a comfortable environment for an open conversation about mental health issues,” said staff advisor Suzanne Johnson.
Johnson, who is a senior counselor in the counseling center, said the organization serves as a link between students and the mental health community, including the health center.
Active Minds President Jim Litz got the idea for BSeCret at the 2010 national Active Minds Conference. Frank Warren, the founder of PostSecret, shared the power that the project has.
The idea of PostSecret is that people mail in homemade postcards with a secret they want to share anonymously. Some of these postcards are then selected to be posted on their website, in PostSecret books or museum exhibits.
Alumnae from Boston University Laura Marcucci and Becky Gordon also presented on their campus-wide PostSecret Project, BU Secret.
Litz brought the idea back to Buffalo State and pitched the idea to the rest of the group.
“Materials and feedback provided by (Marucci) and (Gordon) helped our chapter in promoting and developing BSeCret,” Litz said.
Active Minds secretary Paula Madrigal said that BSeCret was a way to display the secrets or situations that are present among our fellow students. She said the project helped to release our pressures without the fear of being identified, initiate conversations among the students who read these secrets and help them to realize they may not be alone in dealing with their situations.
Johnson agrees that writing down and submitting secrets can provide a healing release.
“The project is to help the BSC community look at mental health from a different light, to realize other people have hopes, fears, (and) dreams similar to ours,” Johnson said. “The student voice is really the most important one.”
Along with helping the students to realize they are not alone in dealing with stress, Madrigal said the project does more.
“I personally was excited about this project for many reasons but especially because it embraced the two major missions of the college, which are that it’s a civil and caring community,” she said.
Now that the project has been completed it is currently being housed in the Campbell Student Union display case.
Litz said he hopes the projects message will stick with people and be an inspiration for the future.
“Whether big or small, I hope BSeCret has and will continue to serve as an example of how innovative and non-traditional methods of self-expression can improve student mental health,” he said.
Madrigal said she hopes that the project will be continued not just next year, but for many years to come.
“I would love to see this project become a re-occurring event at the college, a tradition and culture that students for years to come can experience,” Madrigal said.
Even if it is not continued next year, Litz said he hopes in the future Active Minds will bring it back.
“The nice thing about BSeCret is that it can be continued at any point in time and the materials are ready for use whenever,” he said.
Litz said that future chapters can use the current collection for display, discussion, promotion, recruitment, or inspiration in the future.
“Every student and human being deserves a voice,” he said. “Far too many are silenced.”
Matthew Schmidt can be reached by email at schmidt.record@live.com.