ESSO in Action
Hey guys! It’s Alyssa, one of the co-heads of Active Minds, an ESSO club dedicated to raising mental health awareness around campus. I started going to this club to hear people discuss the mental health climate at Exeter after attending the Active Mind’s assembly my prep year; I realized that having a mental health disorder is more common than I thought—Exeter is a very demanding and stressful place, and problems ranging from social to school issues can affect our mental health.
However, too often these mental health illnesses and disorders are swept under the rug. People will brush them off by telling others to toughen up and stop acting like a child, or even joke about having a mental health disorder. The stigma surrounding mental health issues cause many to be afraid of admitting or talking about their health with their peers and trusted adults. What most students don’t realize is that mental health is a big issue that affects people’s lives and is rarely a lone person’s struggle.
Oct. 3 marked the National Day Without Stigma. Stigma is defined as a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality or person. Mental health illnesses, especially anxiety, OCD and depression, are often associated with negative connotations.
Because of a lack of mental health awareness, many people get treated differently and are discriminated if they are open about their illnesses. Stereotypes of people suffering from mental health disorders include them being weak, scary and even dangerous. I know, from personal experience, that students feel ashamed to walk up to the third floor of the health center to visit a counselor. But we shouldn’t feel this way. We’re all human, and we all have problems. There should be no shame in wanting to talk or getting help with our problems.
Therefore, as a club, we are trying to help remove the stigma by openly talking about mental health in a safe environment. We discuss various types of mental health disorders and how it affects our daily lives. To raise awareness, we also deliberate on what the school can do to foster a better culture and plan events to involve more of the student body. This term, we are planning an event to “Stamp Out Stigma” and this coming January, we are having a speaker at Assembly talk about his experience with bipolar disorder and how he has overcome unique obstacles associated with it. If you are interested in joining the discussions, please email Serena Cho (scho1@exeter.edu) or me (akuwana@exeter.edu) to get on the email list. Also feel free to just join us for lunch during our weekly Monday meetings at Elm Street Dining Hall in the Seabrooke Room!