A group of students is attempting to form a new organization to increase awareness of mental health-related issues on Creighton’s campus.

Samuel Troia, Katie McGuire, Thomas Majda, and Anna Wattles, all seniors in the College of Arts & Sciences, hope to establish a Creighton chapter of the national organization Active Minds. This organization is dedicated to raising mental health awareness among college students.

While the student group is not yet an official chapter of the nation-wide program, becoming recognized by both Active Minds and Creighton are two of its primary goals, according to faculty adviser Michael Moradshahi.

Troia said his concern about mental health issues on campus began when several friends approached him regarding their struggles with various mental illnesses.

“I went and I spoke with some other friends, and they also had friends who were struggling,” Troia said. “Finally my friend Anna said, ‘Why don’t we just talk about it?’ From there, we kind of had the idea of Be the Light.”

The first Be the Light program took place in February 2014. According to Troia, the event featured several speakers, both student and faculty members, who discussed a combination of their own struggles and how they support family and friends dealing with mental health issues.

Even after this event, the students involved wanted to accomplish even more.

“Active Minds started because we didn’t want Be the Light to be a one and done type of thing. We wanted it to be something we could hand down for years and years … to get continually better and better,” Troia said.

“What they’re are working on now, the Active Minds folks, is coming up with a president, vice president, the different parts of the organization that would need to function,” Moradshahi said. “Then there will come a period of recruitment, finding people who can … shadow and basically take it over next year when this [group of seniors] graduates.”

To get started, Active Minds began collaborating with Peer Education at Creighton (PEAC). Part of PEAC’s mission as peer educators, according to PEAC president and Arts & Sciences senior Olivia Lickteig, is to provide fellow students with education and support on topics that are relevant to student health and wellness issues. Mental health is an important part of this support.

“In raising awareness, we hope to further decrease the stigmatization that often comes along with mental health issues,” PEAC vice president and Arts & Sciences junior Bridget Stukel said. “We want to create a dialogue in the Creighton community where all are able to talk freely about mental health issues without the fear of stigmatization.”

Lickteig said the collaboration between PEAC and Active Minds began at the Creighton Student Union Leadership Conference this fall.

“Anna Wattles, a senior involved in Active Minds, approached me after I shared an idea about bringing the Kim Foundation to campus,” Lickteig said. “Both PEAC and Active Minds had been approached as organizations that could be a good fit for setting up an event with the Kim Foundation, and speaking with Anna in person allowed us to get the ball rolling.”

The Kim Foundation is an organization that, according to their website, “[focuses] on increasing awareness and promoting continued education related to mental illness.”  On Oct. 6 the executive director of the foundation, Julia Hebenstreit, gave a brief presentation about the Kim Foundation’s work in Nebraska and provided information and statistics about mental health issues among college students.

Active Minds also put on another program this fall. During Welcome Week, according to Troia, the Be the Light program was repeated with both the same speakers as in February and several new speakers. Between the two Be the Light events, Troia estimated an attendance of more than 400 people.

“I think the best thing about Creighton, the reason why these events worked, is because of the community and the people,” Troia said. “When you do get close to someone and you start having these conversations, it’s not going to be weird. The problem is the conversations just aren’t being had.”

According to both Troia and Moradshahi, one of the major strengths of Creighton’s campus is the availability of resources available for students dealing with mental health issues. Moradshahi said about one in every 10 Creighton students visits the counseling center on campus every year. Even so, one of the main weaknesses, according to Troia, is the perception of mental health issues on campus.

“The fact that the resources are there isn’t a problem … I think the biggest problem is, Creighton students especially, are afraid to fail,” Troia said. “They’re afraid to feel vulnerability in any way, so the concept of being weak or not good enough in their own sense is what’s holding them back from getting help.”

Moradshahi believes Active Minds’ mission of raising awareness and decreasing stigma is also extremely important in helping students make the transition to college and reaching their overall goals.

“The kinds of identity issues that are being confronted by the college age are extremely relevant and pivotal in making decisions that are going to affect the rest of your life,” Moradshahi said. “The more people become aware of it … the more they’ll be able to have it on their minds and acknowledge if they’re going through something and know where to go get help.”

While the process of becoming both an official Creighton organization and an official Active Minds chapter is still in the works, Troia has several ideas for future programs. One of these is a PostSecret event where students anonymously write their struggles or successes on postcards which are then displayed. Troia is also looking forward to future collaborations between both student organizations and faculty. 

“I’m excited to see what PEAC can bring in,” Troia said. “The more minds you put together, the greater an organization can be. I’m excited to see what they’ll bring in on an academic standpoint.

“I [also] want, personally, to see faculty members stand up and discuss their issues of mental health because it’s very powerful coming from a student, but to hear a teacher say that they’re struggling … it’s this figure that you look up to.”

One of Active Minds’ ultimate goals, according to Troia, is to reach the point where stigmatization of mental health issues has decreased and students can approach each other without feeling a sense of shame or failure.

“By us having these conversations, it will be able to snowball to a point where mental health isn’t a big topic,” Troia said. “It’s just another part of daily life that we all struggle with, that we are here to support each other for.”

Students who are interested in getting involved with Active Minds can email their contact information to [email protected] or to Troia at [email protected].