Nearly 1,100 suicides are projected to occur on college campuses this year.

This statistic comes from Active Minds, a national student-run organization aimed at eradicating the stigma surrounding mental health by starting an open conversation for students.

“We’re here to let students know that they’re never alone,” said Lexy Davis, a senior child and family studies major, who founded the Active Minds chapter at SU at the end of her freshman year. She is currently the president.

Active Minds will participate in this year’s Wellness Week, organized by Health and Wellness Promotions in the Division of Student Affairs. The week will highlight the many health and wellness offerings at Syracuse University and various activities will take place on campus between April 20–24.

To kick off Wellness Week, Active Minds will display“Stomp Out Stigma,” a mural educating the SU community about mental illness. The mural is available for painting from Monday to Tuesday in Schine Atrium from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. If in high demand, students will be able to paint on the mural through Wednesday, Davis said.

Members hope to promote positive ideas about mental health and establish a supportive environment for those who struggle with mental illness.

Michael Garda, a junior psychology and fine arts dual major, was the leading force behind the project. Garda, who serves as this year’s secretary for Active Minds, was influenced by an illustration assignment he did in a magazine course last semester.

“I was asked, ‘If you had to do a mural on campus, where would you put it and what would the message be?’” Garda said. “I wanted to somehow implement that idea for Wellness Week this year.”

The mural features three silhouettes, each representing a different mental illness. One portraysdepression, another focuses on anxiety disorders and the third is on eating and body image disorders. Those are the three that people are most aware of, Garda said. They also tend to be the most prevalent on college campuses.

The top of the mural reads “Stomp Out Stigma.” Garda said in the process of trying to come up with other phrases to incorporate in the piece, the group decided to give students the opportunity to write and paint what they think about mental health on the mural.

This will not only educate and inform students about mental health, but will also help break down negative stereotypes that people have about mental illness.

“A lot of people don’t even think mental illness is real in the same way that a physical illness is, or that mental illness is some kind of choice,” Garda said. “You don’t choose to get cancer and you don’t choose to get depression either, but some people just don’t seem to make that connection.”

SU’s Active Minds branch president-elect Mali Golomb-Leavitt, a junior psychology major, believes that artistic expression will help Active Minds become more visible at SU during the upcoming school year.

“We’re really lucky to have Mike as our secretary because he’s so involved with art,” Golomb-Leavitt said. “The mural does a great service to the community. We’re definitely going to try to increase our visual influence on campus to raise awareness of both mental health and Active Minds as an organization in the future.”

In addition to promoting mental health awareness and advocating suicide prevention, Active Minds also acts as a liaison with community organizations and campus resources, such as the SU Counseling Center. The goal is to inform students of its location and what services it has to offer.

The final piece will hang in Schine all week for public viewing.

Said Davis: “I think we’ve all been personally affected by mental illness in some way or another. This is just a great way to help connect students who might be quietly suffering. We want to start an artistic conversation.”

Published on April 21, 2014 at 12:58 am

ztgipson@syr.edu