Second Mental Health Week begins

The second USG-sponsored Mental Health Week, consisting of several speakers, group fitness classes, movie screenings and mental health-related study breaks, will run from Feb. 25 to March 2.

The project “exists to increase mental health awareness by connecting students to campus resources while starting a positive dialogue crucial to a supportive community,” according to the USG Princeton Mental Health Initiative website.

Several University alumni, including Johns Hopkins School of Medicine psychiatry professor Dr. Una McCann ’80, women’s health expert, advocate and psychiatrist Dr. Donnica Moore ’81 and psychiatrist Dr. Judith Kastenberg ’88, will speak at an alumni panel event on Friday.

U-Councilor Farrah Bui ’14 said that the alumni event provides a great opportunity to learn from the professional and personal experiences of fellow alumni.

In addition to the alumni speaking at the panel, Robert Davison, executive director of the Montclair, N.J.-based Mental Health Association of Essex County, will discuss the interrelation between mental health and public policy on Tuesday.

Besides these speaker events, the USG will hold a McGraw Center stress reduction study break, distribute milk and cookies throughout campus on Tuesday, and hold a fitness glow party at Dillon Gymnasium on Tuesday night.

Last week’s “What I Be” lecture and accompanying photographs provided an opportunity for many students to open up and share their insecurities, beginning the public dialogue on mental health issues.

Former USG president Bruce Easop ’13 said that the USG spent approximately $2,000 on Mental Health Week events this year, which is more than six times the $300 spent on last year’s events.

Easop said that the one difference he hopes to see from last year’s Mental Health Week is the continuation of campus conversations about mental health after Mental Health Week concludes. He said he hoped a newly launched website and exposure to campus resources such as the Women’s Center and the LGBT Center, along with blog posts on mental health issues, would sustain the discussion. Easop noted that all students can submit blog posts through the new website for publication online.

“One of our goals is to make the resources themselves more accessible and approachable,” Easop said.

U-Councilor executive communications representative Elektra Alivisatos ’14 said that one goal of Mental Health Week is to eliminate the stigma attached to accessing campus resources like Counseling and Psychological Services, which provides a variety of mental health care services to all students at the University.

Alivisatos explained that one message she hopes to communicate this week is the importance of students’ caring for their general well-being and occasionally stepping back from their work to relax.

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As part of Mental Health Week, Easop noted that the USG-sponsored free movie at the Garden Theatre this week will be “Silver Linings Playbook.”

Many USG members said they hoped Mental Health Week would be an annual event. “I think mental health is something that needs to be done every year to maintain that awareness,” Bui said.

U-Councilor Zhan Okuda-Lim ’15 noted that the USG plans to release a survey on mental health to keep students engaged in mental health issues throughout the year.

This year’s Mental Health Week was organized by Alivisatos, Bui, U-Councilor Katherine Clifton ’15, Easop and Okuda-Lim.