WESTFIELD – Westfield State University has opened a chapter of Active Minds, a national non-profit organization that fights to raise mental health awareness among college students and help remove the negative stigmas that are attached to mental illness.
The national organization was founded by Alison Malmon in 2003 following the suicide of her older brother, Brian, who had been suffering from depression and a schizoaffective disorder. After seeing that few University of Pennsylvania students were discussing mental health issues, Malmon decided she wanted to change her campus’s culture. Her mission became to fight back against the negative stigma that is often attached to mental illness, to encourage students to seek help early, and to prevent self-destructive behavior.
Over the last decade, Active Minds has grown into the leading national organization for empowering students to change the perception of mental health issues. It now has full time staff members, a Board of Directors, National Advisory Committee and Student Advisory Committee. Active Minds has been featured on CNN, in The New York Times, Chronicle of Higher Education, and many other media outlets.
Unfortunately, suicide is the third leading cause of death on college campuses and 7 percent of college students have considered suicide within the past year.
The Westfield State chapter was founded by psychology student Danny Kochanowski ‘16 after being inspired by his childhood friend Corey, who is an active member in the Active Minds chapter at Brown University.
“I thought of bringing Active Minds here because there was no group like it on campus that spread mental health awareness and reduced stigma, which is our main goal,” said Kochanowski.
Kochanowski said the group is open to people who are struggling with mental illness and those who just want to understand it.
“I want to spread awareness for the purpose of education, understanding, and empathy. I want those struggling to know that it is not their fault, and I want those who are not struggling to understand and help if they possibly can,” Kochanowski said.
Kochanowski, who is the current acting president, was joined by his friends Paul Falcone ‘16, Amanda Canale ‘16, Beth Gilbert ’16 (secretary), Elyssa Arroyo ‘16 (fundraising officer), and Jess White ‘16 (treasurer) who currently serve with him on the executive board.
Falcone, a communications major, serves as the chapter’s vice president and even has his own personal blog where he brings awareness to and educates others on the various mental illnesses.
“I hope to create a kind of community where people can share their struggles and stories, learn about these conditions, and hopefully find themselves through the process,” writes Falcone on his blog, “Dear Hope”.
Canale, another communications major, is the Public Relations Correspondent.
“I’ve suffered from mental illness for a long time, and for majority of it, it felt like I had no one to talk to, like no one understood. The world seems a lot less scary now knowing that there are groups out there like Active Minds,” said Canale.
The first meeting alone brought a crowd of more than 20 students. After their initial meeting, the chapter met for a second time and, with the help of Gilbert and her photography skills, took photos of each other with large colorful bandages on their hands covered with inspirational sayings. The photos were transformed into posters that were hung around campus as a way to inspire other students to take a stand and learn about the chapter.
After just a few short months of officially being a chapter, the group has already held a stress-relief personal massage workshop, had their own table at the campus Health Fair, and coordinated a Question, Persuade, and Refer (QPR) Training Session for interested students.
Kochanowski said he hopes to expand the club.
“We want to bring a sponsored speaker, hold stress-reduction and mindfulness events on the green, and continue advocacy campaigns like the bandage-photo campaign we held earlier this month. We have a lot of room to grow and expand, so you will be seeing and hearing from us more,” Kochanowski said.
For more information regarding Westfield State University’s Active Minds Chapter, visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1532864243595005/. To follow their Twitter page, follow them at https://twitter.com/WSActiveMinds. To follow Paul Falcone’s blog, Dear Hope, visit https://wemustbebroken.wordpress.com/.
