National Suicide Prevention Day raises awareness
Before she went to counseling, Margaret Kramer “believed the stereotype that you just sit on the couch and they write notes and listen and take your money.”
“I never really felt like your life could be changed by counseling, but when I went to my second counselor, and that was the right fit for me, that’s when my life changed,” she said. “That’s why I do what I do now, because she really changed my outlook on life and what’s important.”
Kramer is president of both Student Health Services’ Changing Carolina Peer Leaders and Active Minds, a nationally based mental health-focused student organization.
According to statistics from the National College Health Assessment, about 25 percent of USC students reported feeling so depressed that it was difficult to function consistently over the course of a year. Almost 6 percent of students reported seriously considering suicide in the course of a year.
Those numbers make it clear: mental health is an issue that cannot be ignored, said Jennifer Myers, USC’s coordinator for Suicide Prevention Services.
“What I know is that a good number of our students struggle with some depression, anxiety, feeling significantly overwhelmed or relationship issues,” Myers said. “What I’d really like to do is to get them to know what the mental health resources are on campus and then to not be afraid to talk about mental health issues with each other, because obviously if we take care of things earlier on, if we have earlier identification of mental health issues, we can potentially even prevent someone from even considering suicide.”
Part of that push for awareness included Suicide Prevention Services hosting a table on Greene Street for National Suicide Prevention Day on Tuesday. It’s important, Myers said, to show students who could potentially be struggling with mental health issues that it’s OK to talk about them in a very public way.
“We’re really working on battling the stigma around mental health issues, and people should know that we’re willing to stand out at the farmers market and talk about depression and anxiety and mental health,” Myers said. “We want to make it something that’s more talked about, just like we would talk about our physical health.”
Myers and other volunteers gave passersby brochures and information about the Counseling Center, as well as small slips of paper with positive, encouraging quotes on them. When a few students passed by more than once, she would give them another slip of paper and tell them to “pay it forward.”
The prevalence of mental health issues in the student body at USC is something Kramer has seen firsthand, she said, and it’s something Active Minds is working to improve.
“We have resources for eating disorder awareness, suicide prevention, stress management, depression. It’s a full range of things college students face day-to-day. Either they know somebody, they’re facing it or someone in their family is,” Kramer said.
“It’s just imperative that students know that they’re not the only people out there.”
After only just re-establishing USC’s chapter of Active Minds last semester, Kramer said the organization had around 50 people sign up at the student organization fair last week.
“We’ll see how many of those people show up, but that was very surprising to us to even get that many students, and each one of them was very excited about the organization,” Kramer said.
She said she thinks so many people are interested Active Minds because mental health is something that affects everyone.
“We all have minds, and we all are affected by them — chemically, environmentally. It’s just a myriad of factors, and even though it is something that’s part of all of us, there is some stigma attached that we have to be pristine inside and out,” she said.
“That’s unfortunate, but that’s what the organization is for: to make people feel like they can be more open about it.”
Suicide Prevention Services is also working to train students, faculty and staff on suicide prevention. So far, she said, 1,232 people have been certified. The office will hold another training session Sept. 12 from 9-11:30 a.m., and almost 20 people are already signed up for that class, Myers said. The training will cover warning signs and statistics, as well as what students can do if they know someone who may be considering suicide.
“I think it’s a pertinent issue for us to talk about mental health issues that surround suicidal thinking,” Myers said. “Sometimes our students handle situations that are really intense on their own, and I think it’s important whenever someone is at risk for suicide or talking about suicide to make sure they get connected with a mental health resource, obviously to help the student, but also to help the friend to make sure everyone gets through it in the best way possible.”
In addition to her work with the office professionally, suicide prevention services have had a very personal affect on Myers’ life, she said.
“I feel like I kind of owe something to the world, because it’s people who have really worked toward suicide prevention that made it so that my own mom spoke out about her suicidal thoughts and I was able to respond and get her the help she needed,” Myers said. “I still have her here today because she was motivated to say something because I was involved with the Out of the Darkness suicide prevention walk that’s run by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. I’m forever grateful for that opportunity — to be able to respond to assist my mom — that I want to be able to do the same thing for someone else.”
Kramer’s personal experience with counseling is something she hopes to share with students who are on the fence about it, she said.
“My life has been changed so much by the treatment I received,” she said. “I want that for other people as well.”
Students have to realize that mental health is important, Kramer said.
“Counseling is just like going to the doctor if you’re sick,” she said. “There’s a point where it is important to get that help from a third party and try to get a more accurate understanding of what you’re experiencing. … Mental health is just as important as physical health. They both affect one another. If you don’t pay attention to one, then the other one will suffer as well.”
The most basic step students can take to improve their own mental health, or to get help for friends they’re worried about, is to pick up the phone, Myers said. The Counseling and Human Development Center offers 12 free one-on-one sessions for students as part of the health fee, which can be scheduled after a brief phone intake interview.
For those who aren’t ready for an in-person appointment, the online screening tool on the Student Health Services website is a great tool, Kramer said.
“That is a great resource for students who don’t want to talk with anyone but are feeling the need to start figuring out what’s going on,” she said. “It’s got the anonymity of being online but can also give you an accurate understanding of what your next step should be.”
More than anything, Kramer said, students have to find someone — anyone they trust — to talk to.
“Get someone else on your team,” Kramer said. “There are students, faculty members, counselors who are all ready and willing to be that person for you, to take you to the next step for your recovery. … It’s just really important to make sure that you are recognizing that this is something you can seek help for.”