East Carolinian

Issue date: 10/16/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: staff photo

Oct. 10 kicked off the annual World Mental Health Day, a campaign that has been running for almost 16 years. The event, initiated by the World Federation for Mental Health, promotes education for individual disorders and promotes maintenance for good emotional health.

"World Mental Health Day is an international educational campaign that aims to extend knowledge of mental health topics to unaware people," said Renita Moore, a mental health outreach specialist at the ECU Center for Counseling and Student Development. "It is an observance that encourages awareness, empathy and an opportunity for everyone to recognize the impact that mental/emotional issues have on each of our lives."

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, an estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year. Overall, this figure accounts for 57.7 million Americans.

"It is important for ECU students to familiarize themselves with issues concerning mental health and emotional wellness because it is a part of our total wellness and well-being as humans," Moore said. "Often times, people shy away from topics of mental health because the reality is that there is no one way of predicting who will have a mental illness and when it will 'strike."

To observe the day, the Center for Counseling and Student Development spearheaded a competition between residence halls on campus to come up with a creative, yet informative, bulletin board.

Teams of two to four resident advisors were instructed to create the display based on packets containing the most up-to-date information on topics such as anxiety and test taking anxiety, stress management, bipolar disorder and careers in the mental health field.

"Even if one person has an 'aha' moment or changes his or her mind about a topic discussed on the board, then I consider the contest a success," Moore said.

Jarvis Hall took first place with their "anxiety lab theme." Along with Moore, judges included Waz Miller of Campus Living, Karen Warren of Campus Wellness and Shawnte' McMillan of Student Health Services.

"In putting up our board, we were trying to educate residences on signs of anxiety, especially during high stress times during the year, with midterms and finals, and how to deal with these issues in a positive manner," said Matthew McCarthy, a resident advisor in Jarvis Hall who was part of the winning team. "Even when we were out there planning the board, we had several residents come up and have various reactions; some wanted to see it done, some wanted to help and others were amazed at the content of the bulletin board."

Runners up included Tyler and Fletcher Halls.

For more information on mental health and services that ECU provides, contact the Center for Counseling and Student Development at 328-6661.



This writer can be contacted at features@theeastcarolinian.com.

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