RECOG N IZING MENTAL ILLNESS By Jant?.en Teague Harding claimed the title for the first interdi ciplinary affiliate on a college campus for the National Alliance on M ental Illness (NAMI) on April 21, 20 16. According to its website, NAl\II was the nation's large t grassroots mental health organization and was dedicated to building better liYe for the millions of people affected by mental illne s. Shelbie Stickels, a graduate pharmacy student, said she came across ::\!AMI as she researched mental illnes for her health and wellness project through Harding' College of Pharmacy. \Vith o many departments on campus, Stickels saw a great chance to establish an intercollegiate branch ofN MI at Harding. "I thought this was a really unique opportunity to not only bring together the different pr fe ions, but als the undergraduate school , so that we could fight the stigma at every level, tarting from the beginning [with] different profi sions," tickel aid. Colton Bea,·er, a graduate profe ional counscling student, served as president of :NA~H for the 2016-2017 school year. Though he wa unsure ofhi position at the beginning of the program, Beaver was glad to help. "Working with all these different departments and seeing their different perspectives of health care has really been eye-opening," BeaYer said. '·Seeing and hearing about mental illness from [other areas'] perspectives and getting a brief ummary of what they are going to bring [to NAMI] was amazing." Director ofprofe sional coun elingj enene Alexander aid she was happy to hop on board to erve as an adviser. She said the goal for N'A::\II wa to understand, prevent and remove the tigma of mental illne . Combining different areas of expertise - counseling, nursing, pharmacy, physician assistance, physical therapy and peech therapy - prO\·ided a wide variety of professions to include in the effort. "At ach meeting, they're going to have a speaker from one of the different area ,·, Alexander said. "That way w get to know what each person doe in the area of mental h alth, [learnJ how we can all support each other and [decide] how we can be more proactive at putting out information to help people navigate [mental health] and not .tigmatize someone [who is] dealing with a mental health i ·ue." Stickels and Beaver aid th y were both challenged and blessed as they watched the program grow and unfold, and said they looked forward to seeing more intercollegiate NAMI affiliates establish nationwide. tudenls involved in the .\"atio11a{ Alliance for .\lental Illness (.\'i L\11) participate in a rou11d table event held i11 the Founders Room of the David B. Burks American Heritage Building on Oct. 4. • V,-1.\J /· was an organi<ation that brought students together lo raise awareness for mental illness. I Photo courtesy of Angela English
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc5NA==