Post Classifieds
Campus hosts awareness events
By Jennifer Waters
On April 8, 2012
Buffalo State is hosting a variety of events as part of its annual Mental Health Awareness
week.
Events started Monday and will continue through Friday, with the goal of helping students
and faculty learn about and better understand mental health.
"Mental health is not the absence of a mental illness," said Suzanne Johnson, senior
counselor for the Counseling Center in the Weigel Health Center. "It's more getting a good
night sleep, managing stress and overall wellness of the body and mind."
On Monday the Question, Persuade and Refer suicide prevention program was held from
6 p.m. to 8 p.m., giving students the basic skills they would need to confront a loved one
whom they felt was considering suicide. They also taught ways to approach the situation
with caution and sensitivity.
The program will be held again on Friday from noon to 2 p.m. in Butler 210.
Buffalo State recently received a three-year federal grant for QPR programs and workshops
to help save lives from suicide as part of the Buffalo State Cares initiative, Johnson said.
Programming Tuesday offered a relationship workshop to show students the importance of
healthy relationships and the impact relationships have on mental health. The second part
of the program will take place on Thursday from noon to 1 p.m. in Classroom B 106 and
will focus on relationships and interpersonal success.
The day will conclude with a screening of the documentary America Obsessed with Beauty
by Darryl Roberts, which examines society's new obsession with obtaining physical beauty.
A celebration of diversity aimed at making the campus safer and more accepting of LGBT
students and allies will be held Tuesday.
From 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. a program on stress management and the difference between good
and bad stress will be held.
"Stress can be motivating. The key is to learn how to manage stress so that you can work
with it rather than allowing stress levels to get too high," Johnson said.
Today's main event is Take Back the Night, a program that has been running for 10 years
under Tammy Kresge, assistant director of health promotions.
"I love that students and volunteers from all over campus come together for one cause and
to help each other. It's really special," Kresge said.
Take Back the Night is an annual event that includes performances such as poetry and
dance interpretation for the purpose of raising awareness about sexual violence and to
provide healing for victims.
Last year over 500 students, faculty and staff were in attendance, she said. The night is also
meant to empower people to do their part to end sexual violence.
Kresge said the performances that take place are highly emotional and there will be
counselors specifically in attendance for anyone in the audience or performing who
become overwhelmed and need someone.
"We've taken an artistic approach to the storytelling, trying to intertwine the
empowerment performances with the more emotional stories of survival," she said.
Survivor Maggie Bertram will be speaking to students Thursday night about her
experiences with anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and anorexia nervosa.
These problems escalated for her in the last two years of college, but were with her since
high school, Bertram said.
"I experienced quite a bit of shame before seeking help for my mental health issues,"
Bertram said. "It seems like the hardest thing to reach out for help. You make other
people's problems out to be bigger than yours and then call yourself weak."
For Bertram, the realization that she needed help came when she was training to be a
Resident Assistant. During one of their training sessions they received a paper with signs
that they were to watch out for with their residents, signs that they need counseling.
"I was looking at the sheet and thinking, 'all of this applies to me,'" she said.
For Bertram, the story about her mental health issues parallel with her story about coming
out as a lesbian.
She said that the majority of students who seek help are between the ages of 18 and 24 and
that getting help at this age means they can go back to living their lives. She also said that it
is perfectly fine to reach out to friends and family for help first, and that's exactly how she
gained the courage to get help.
"They were a support system I always had but I never knew I could reach out to," she said.
Buffalo State has many resources for victims of sexual violence and those who need help
coping with stress or working to improve mental health.
"The Counseling Center has experts specifically trained to help victims who are struggling
with their past," Kresge said.
The Counseling Center also offers individual and group counseling, and nearing the end of
the semester, academic wellness workshops that help students work on sleep management,
stress management and studying.
A complete list of events can be found on the Counseling Center's website.
Jennifer Waters can be reached by email at waters.record@live.com.
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