There’s a new mental health awareness group at Hunter and it’s taking off
If you or someone you know is affected, come to the weekly Wednesday meetings at 1.30 pm
This week is Mental Illness Awareness Week, and there’s a club at Hunter that’s here to educate.
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) established a Hunter chapter last semester. Co-founders Dana Seag (President), Desiree Ghisolfi (Vice President), Catherine Traynor (Treasurer) and Secretary Alicia Ambrosino are taking off semester with their plan to educate to student body on mental health and fight against the stigma of mental illness.
Dana and Catherine, currently seniors, began organizing an awareness club when they were freshmen. They wanted to establish a club that would serve a large percentage of the student body, so they chose NAMI.
VP Desiree
Dana said: “Active Minds is only college-based, but there are more people at Hunter than those who fall in the ‘college-age’ bracket.
“There are graduate students and people much older.
“We wanted something with more of a presence nationally, and NAMI is well-known.”
Last fall they contacted NAMI. The organization put them in touch with Desiree, a student also wanting to establish a chapter. The three began working together with current member and former secretary, Francesca Voza, to make it happen.
Desiree said: “A lot of people in my family and my friends were affected by mental illness, and this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.
“This is my passion, this is my goal—to remind people that they’re not alone.”
The goals of the club are to help foster a community within Hunter in which people feel safe, explain the physiological effects and science behind mental illness, educate about anxiety and depression and how to deal with these illnesses, provide resources to those who have mental illnesses and help remove the negative stigma associated with mental illness.
Alicia said: “I joined because I want to eliminate discrimination against individuals who are affected by mental illness.
Secretary Alicia
“I plan to create a community where people feel comfortable enough to speak about mental illness.
“I haven’t seen anyone turn their backs on cancer patients, why do it to individuals with mental illness?”
The destigmatization of mental illness is one of the main concerns among club members.
Catherine said: “Negative stigma is attached to seeing therapists.
“But no one would say anything if you had a heart issue and went to a cardiologist.
“There’s a negative stigma and we want to eradicate it.”
Dana said: “Everyone has mental health, but a small number of people actually recognize their own mental health in a way that they recognize physical health.
“The fact that we stigmatize one over the other makes no sense to me.”
NAMI is holding events next Tuesday through Thursday to introduce the fight against the stigma.
The club will also hold events during that week to provide resources for mental health and information on how to help a friend with a mental illness.
Catherine adds: “Not everyone has to have a mental illness in order to care about mental health.
Treasurer Catherine Traynor
“Everyone has mental health and everyone should acknowledge it.”
NAMI is also partnering with the Office of Accessibility’s club PossABILITY and the Health and Wellness Center later this semester for their destigmatizing mental health campaign.
They plan to have a banner on which people pledge to be stigma free, and will walk with during the NAMI Walk in May.
Dana says that until then they are going to keep the banner outside their meeting room as “a visual display for people who might be struggling.” She added: “They’ll see students who are stigma free, who do care—and hopefully they’ll reach out for help.”
But even after garnering more interest among the student body this semester, NAMI is still having trouble making its presence known.
The club at the NAMI walk last May, thanks to Dana Seag for the photo
Dana said: “We don’t have a definite spot yet.
“Clubs in Hunter aren’t allowed to have a room until four years after they’re founded.”
Catherine added: “But we meet 1:00-2:00 on Wednesdays.
“Sometimes we’re in Thomas Hunter 105 or 202, or the Psychology Club Office. What we usually email the definite location for the next week to the people on our mailing list.”
They also post their location on their Facebook page, which is “NAMI on Campus at Hunter College.” If you want to help NAMI fight the stigma against mental illness, or obtain mental health resources, contact the club as well as the Office of Accessibility.