With mental illness and reports of
suicide approaching alarming heights,
Buffalo State has instituted Mental
Health Awareness Week, a five-day program designed to bring to the campus’
forefront knowledge regarding mental
health and suicide prevention.
Buffalo State students should take
notice and participate.
Mental illness has been prevalent
in society and on college campuses
nationwide for years. Educating oneself
and spreading knowledge gained would
be a benevolent and potentially lifesaving gesture.
This is the third year in a row that
Buffalo State’s Counseling Center
has hosted Mental Health Awareness
Week. This year’s program is ongoing
– it started Monday and will run until
Friday.
That gives students today, Thursday
and Friday to take part in a variety of
workshops that will inform participants on topics including depression,
grief healing, stress management and
suicide.
Particularly in college, where social
and academic pressures reign supreme,
tackling the issues highlighted in the
program is crucial. Failing to do so
could have fatal ramifications brought
along by suicide.
According to suicidology.org, as of
2010, suicide accounted for more than
10 percent of deaths among 15-24 year
olds and is the second leading cause of
death on college campuses nationwide.
Some behaviors that a person struggling with depression or considering
suicide may exhibit include hopelessness, rage, recklessness, drinking or
doing drugs at a proliferating rate,
anxiety and talking about death,
among others.
In the event that a peer of yours displays any of the aforementioned traits,
you have a social and humane responsibility to act. There are help services
both on- and off-campus to aide in the
prevention of suicide.
Call 911, the University Police
Department, Crisis Services (716-843-
3131) or the Counseling Center in cases
when imminent danger is present.
These services operate 24 hours a day
and seven days a week for a reason.
Additionally, the National Suicide
Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK
serves as an excellent means of suicide
prevention should you suspect a peer
is wrestling with the thought of ending
their life.
Even though these resources are at
our disposal, the easiest way to help a
friend in need is to just listen to and be
available for them. Everybody needs
someone to talk to, and being there for
a friend in need could prevent a horrible tragedy before it happens.
Lend a hand, lend your ear and lend
your heart to those in frustrating situations. Use this week to educate yourself
in mental illness and suicide prevention and as a platform to help spread
awareness.
The benefits will not only be personally gratifying, but you’ll be aiding in
what has become not just a campuswide cause, but a worldwide one, too.