Student outreach organization tackles issues of mental health

 

The TCU chapter of Active Minds, a campus mental health advocacy group, put on an event known as “Send Silence Packing," which took over the Campus Commons on Monday, Sept. 29.

 

The exhibit displayed 1,100 backpacks to represent the 1,100 college students who die by suicide each year.

 

Many of these backpacks, owned by the suicide victims themselves, were donated by families of the dead. Those backpacks carried a special meaning as the victims’ story and picture were pinned to the front of the backpack. They were also filled with photos, stories and mementos for students to look through.

 

Active Minds also shares the common purpose of reducing the stigma associated with mental health, as well as opening up the conversation about these topics.

 

Junior neuroscience major Mia Eriksson is the co-president of TCU's chapter of Active Minds. Through her undergraduate medical studies, Eriksson has learned how serious mental health is.

 

"It is no different than physical health other than the location of the physical cause of the symptoms," Eriksson said.

 

Eriksson said she believes that mental health affects everybody at some point in his or her life, either directly, or through a friend or family member.

 

"We are afraid because we don't understand," Eriksson said. "Instead of talking about it together trying to figure things out, we try to hide it."