Talk Saves Lives<\/a> presentation. <\/p>\nVolunteer presenter with the AFSP, Laura Distelrath, spoke to students as they crafted bracelets from an assortment of colorful beads and string, while also enjoying refreshments during the presentation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe this is the right presentation for OU because suicide impacts so many,\u201d Sean Sellars, president of MHM at OU said. \u201cBy bringing this to OU, we are empowering students and opening the discussion for suicide prevention.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Students attending the event engaged with one another while learning about suicide prevention resources. The presentation emphasized the importance of community support for individuals who may be struggling.<\/p>\n
Mercy Jeffries, an attendee, appreciated how this event facilitated knowledge renewal about mental health awareness.\u00a0Jeffries valued that the opportunity broadened the perspective on mental health.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can never know too much about mental health awareness and I find re-education important,\u201d Jeffries said. <\/p>\n
The presentation highlighted the importance of peer support, which attendees found especially valuable.<\/p>\n
MJ Cole, a social work major, emphasized the importance of building a community full of peer support.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese types of events are very important because it shows the community that we truly have,\u201d Cole said. \u201cIt shows that we are seen, understood and that we can lean on people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jeffries emphasized how this event helps normalize conversations surrounding mental health and suicide awareness.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really support making mental health more normalized and learning more about it,\u201d Jeffries said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Student attendees felt inspired by seeing their peers lead conversations about suicide awareness, as these student leaders helped normalize and destigmatize discussions surrounding mental health at the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing peers at this event makes it more comfortable and normalized to speak about these topics,\u201d Jeffries said.<\/p>\n
As the event came to a close, students were informed of mental health resources.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sellars hopes that MHM can provide a supportive community for students who may be struggling.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbove all, I want the participants and community who attend this event to know that they are not alone in their struggles: there is a community ready to support you,\u201d Sellars said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sellars noted that many college students feel isolated in their mental health journey, and without community support, many students feel less inclined to speak up about their mental health.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease reach out, do not suffer alone,\u201d Sellars said. \u201cYou are worthy of support.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the semester progresses, college students face an array of challenges, with mental health being at the forefront.\u00a0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-214846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}